Aperiodic indications for beam failure recovery

ABSTRACT

A wireless device receives one or more messages comprising one or more configuration parameters. The one or more configuration parameters indicate: a value of a timer for controlling a radio link failure indication based on a beam failure recovery procedure, and a first number of out-of-synchronization indications. The wireless device determines a second number of out-of-synchronization indications. The timer associated with the value is started in response to the second number being equal to the first number of out-of-synchronization indications. A first failure of the beam failure recovery procedure is determined. The first failure is ignored, by not causing a radio link failure, in response to the timer running when the first failure is determined. A second failure of the beam failure recovery procedure is determined. A radio link failure is indicated in response to the timer being expired when the second failure is determined.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/629,844, filed Feb. 13, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present disclosure are described herein with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example RAN architecture as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2A is a diagram of an example user plane protocol stack as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2B is a diagram of an example control plane protocol stack as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example wireless device and two base stations as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, FIG. 4C and FIG. 4D are example diagrams for uplink and downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5A is a diagram of an example uplink channel mapping and example uplink physical signals as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5B is a diagram of an example downlink channel mapping and example downlink physical signals as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time or reception time for a carrier as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are diagrams depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting example OFDM radio resources as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9A is a diagram depicting an example CSI-RS and/or SS block transmission in a multi-beam system.

FIG. 9B is a diagram depicting an example downlink beam management procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 is an example diagram of configured BWPs as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 11A, and FIG. 11B are diagrams of an example multi connectivity as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a diagram of an example random access procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a structure of example MAC entities as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 14 is a diagram of an example RAN architecture as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 is a diagram of example RRC states as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 16 is an example of radio link failure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 17 is an example of radio link failure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 18A and FIG. 18B are examples of downlink beam failure scenario as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 19 is an example of downlink beam failure recovery request procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 20A and FIG. 20B illustrate an example of a downlink beam failure recovery request procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 21 is an example of an aperiodic indication of a downlink beam failure recovery procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 22 is an example of an aperiodic indication of a downlink beam failure recovery procedure as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 23 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 24 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 25 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Example embodiments of the present disclosure enable operation of beam failure recovery procedure. Embodiments of the technology disclosed herein may be employed in the technical field of multicarrier communication systems. More particularly, the embodiments of the technology disclosed herein may relate to beam failure recovery procedure in a multicarrier communication system.

The following Acronyms are used throughout the present disclosure:

-   -   3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project     -   5GC 5G Core Network     -   ACK Acknowledgement     -   AMF Access and Mobility Management Function     -   ARQ Automatic Repeat Request     -   AS Access Stratum     -   ASIC Application-Specific Integrated Circuit     -   BA Bandwidth Adaptation     -   BCCH Broadcast Control Channel     -   BCH Broadcast Channel     -   BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying     -   BWP Bandwidth Part     -   CA Carrier Aggregation     -   CC Component Carrier     -   CCCH Common Control CHannel     -   CDMA Code Division Multiple Access     -   CN Core Network     -   CP Cyclic Prefix     -   CP-OFDM Cyclic Prefix-Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex     -   C-RNTI Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier     -   CS Configured Scheduling     -   CSI Channel State Information     -   CSI-RS Channel State Information-Reference Signal     -   CQI Channel Quality Indicator     -   CSS Common Search Space     -   CU Central Unit     -   DC Dual Connectivity     -   DCCH Dedicated Control Channel     -   DCI Downlink Control Information     -   DL Downlink     -   DL-SCH Downlink Shared CHannel     -   DM-RS DeModulation Reference Signal     -   DRB Data Radio Bearer     -   DRX Discontinuous Reception     -   DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel     -   DU Distributed Unit     -   EPC Evolved Packet Core     -   E-UTRA Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access     -   E-UTRAN Evolved-Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network     -   FDD Frequency Division Duplex     -   FPGA Field Programmable Gate Arrays     -   F1-C F1-Control plane     -   F1-U F1-User plane     -   gNB next generation Node B     -   HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest     -   HDL Hardware Description Languages     -   IE Information Element     -   IP Internet Protocol     -   LCID Logical Channel Identifier     -   LTE Long Term Evolution     -   MAC Media Access Control     -   MCG Master Cell Group     -   MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme     -   MeNB Master evolved Node B     -   MIB Master Information Block     -   MME Mobility Management Entity     -   MN Master Node     -   NACK Negative Acknowledgement     -   NAS Non-Access Stratum     -   NG CP Next Generation Control Plane     -   NGC Next Generation Core     -   NG-C NG-Control plane     -   ng-eNB next generation evolved Node B     -   NG-U NG-User plane     -   NR New Radio     -   NR MAC New Radio MAC     -   NR PDCP New Radio PDCP     -   NR PHY New Radio PHYsical     -   NR RLC New Radio RLC     -   NR RRC New Radio RRC     -   NSSAI Network Slice Selection Assistance Information     -   O&M Operation and Maintenance     -   OFDM orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing     -   PBCH Physical Broadcast CHannel     -   PCC Primary Component Carrier     -   PCCH Paging Control CHannel     -   PCell Primary Cell     -   PCH Paging CHannel     -   PDCCH Physical Downlink Control CHannel     -   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol     -   PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared CHannel     -   PDU Protocol Data Unit     -   PHICH Physical HARQ Indicator CHannel     -   PHY PHYsical     -   PLMN Public Land Mobile Network     -   PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator     -   PRACH Physical Random Access CHannel     -   PRB Physical Resource Block     -   PSCell Primary Secondary Cell     -   PSS Primary Synchronization Signal     -   pTAG primary Timing Advance Group     -   PT-RS Phase Tracking Reference Signal     -   PUCCH Physical Uplink Control CHannel     -   PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared CHannel     -   QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation     -   QFI Quality of Service Indicator     -   QoS Quality of Service     -   QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying     -   RA Random Access     -   RACH Random Access CHannel     -   RAN Radio Access Network     -   RAT Radio Access Technology     -   RA-RNTI Random Access-Radio Network Temporary Identifier     -   RB Resource Blocks     -   RBG Resource Block Groups     -   RI Rank indicator     -   RLC Radio Link Control     -   RRC Radio Resource Control     -   RS Reference Signal     -   RSRP Reference Signal Received Power     -   SCC Secondary Component Carrier     -   SCell Secondary Cell     -   SCG Secondary Cell Group     -   SC-FDMA Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access     -   SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol     -   SDU Service Data Unit     -   SeNB Secondary evolved Node B     -   SFN System Frame Number     -   S-GW Serving GateWay     -   SI System Information     -   SIB System Information Block     -   SMF Session Management Function     -   SN Secondary Node     -   SpCell Special Cell     -   SRB Signaling Radio Bearer     -   SRS Sounding Reference Signal     -   SS Synchronization Signal     -   SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal     -   sTAG secondary Timing Advance Group     -   TA Timing Advance     -   TAG Timing Advance Group     -   TAI Tracking Area Identifier     -   TAT Time Alignment Timer     -   TB Transport Block     -   TC-RNTI Temporary Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier     -   TDD Time Division Duplex     -   TDMA Time Division Multiple Access     -   TTI Transmission Time Interval     -   UCI Uplink Control Information     -   UE User Equipment     -   UL Uplink     -   UL-SCH Uplink Shared CHannel     -   UPF User Plane Function     -   UPGW User Plane Gateway     -   VHDL VHSIC Hardware Description Language     -   Xn-C Xn-Control plane     -   Xn-U Xn-User plane

Example embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using various physical layer modulation and transmission mechanisms. Example transmission mechanisms may include, but are not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Wavelet technologies, and/or the like. Hybrid transmission mechanisms such as TDMA/CDMA, and OFDM/CDMA may also be employed. Various modulation schemes may be applied for signal transmission in the physical layer. Examples of modulation schemes include, but are not limited to: phase, amplitude, code, a combination of these, and/or the like. An example radio transmission method may implement Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) using Binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK), Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and/or the like. Physical radio transmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changing the modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirements and radio conditions.

FIG. 1 is an example Radio Access Network (RAN) architecture as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated in this example, a RAN node may be a next generation Node B (gNB) (e.g. 120A, 120B) providing New Radio (NR) user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards a first wireless device (e.g. 110A). In an example, a RAN node may be a next generation evolved Node B (ng-eNB) (e.g. 120C, 120D), providing Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards a second wireless device (e.g. 110B). The first wireless device may communicate with a gNB over a Uu interface. The second wireless device may communicate with a ng-eNB over a Uu interface.

A gNB or an ng-eNB may host functions such as radio resource management and scheduling, IP header compression, encryption and integrity protection of data, selection of Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) at User Equipment (UE) attachment, routing of user plane and control plane data, connection setup and release, scheduling and transmission of paging messages (originated from the AMF), scheduling and transmission of system broadcast information (originated from the AMF or Operation and Maintenance (O&M)), measurement and measurement reporting configuration, transport level packet marking in the uplink, session management, support of network slicing, Quality of Service (QoS) flow management and mapping to data radio bearers, support of UEs in RRC_INACTIVE state, distribution function for Non-Access Stratum (NAS) messages, RAN sharing, dual connectivity or tight interworking between NR and E-UTRA.

In an example, one or more gNBs and/or one or more ng-eNBs may be interconnected with each other by means of Xn interface. A gNB or an ng-eNB may be connected by means of NG interfaces to 5G Core Network (5GC). In an example, 5GC may comprise one or more AMF/User Plan Function (UPF) functions (e.g. 130A or 130B). A gNB or an ng-eNB may be connected to a UPF by means of an NG-User plane (NG-U) interface. The NG-U interface may provide delivery (e.g. non-guaranteed delivery) of user plane Protocol Data Units (PDUs) between a RAN node and the UPF. A gNB or an ng-eNB may be connected to an AMF by means of an NG-Control plane (NG-C) interface. The NG-C interface may provide functions such as NG interface management, UE context management, UE mobility management, transport of NAS messages, paging, PDU session management, configuration transfer or warning message transmission.

In an example, a UPF may host functions such as anchor point for intra-/inter-Radio Access Technology (RAT) mobility (when applicable), external PDU session point of interconnect to data network, packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection and user plane part of policy rule enforcement, traffic usage reporting, uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network, branching point to support multi-homed PDU session, QoS handling for user plane, e.g. packet filtering, gating, Uplink (UL)/Downlink (DL) rate enforcement, uplink traffic verification (e.g. Service Data Flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), downlink packet buffering and/or downlink data notification triggering.

In an example, an AMF may host functions such as NAS signaling termination, NAS signaling security, Access Stratum (AS) security control, inter Core Network (CN) node signaling for mobility between 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access networks, idle mode UE reachability (e.g., control and execution of paging retransmission), registration area management, support of intra-system and inter-system mobility, access authentication, access authorization including check of roaming rights, mobility management control (subscription and policies), support of network slicing and/or Session Management Function (SMF) selection.

FIG. 2A is an example user plane protocol stack, where Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) (e.g. 211 and 221), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) (e.g. 212 and 222), Radio Link Control (RLC) (e.g. 213 and 223) and Media Access Control (MAC) (e.g. 214 and 224) sublayers and Physical (PHY) (e.g. 215 and 225) layer may be terminated in wireless device (e.g. 110) and gNB (e.g. 120) on the network side. In an example, a PHY layer provides transport services to higher layers (e.g. MAC, RRC, etc). In an example, services and functions of a MAC sublayer may comprise mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing/demultiplexing of MAC Service Data Units (SDUs) belonging to one or different logical channels into/from Transport Blocks (TB s) delivered to/from the PHY layer, scheduling information reporting, error correction through Hybrid Automatic Repeat request (HARQ) (e.g. one HARQ entity per carrier in case of Carrier Aggregation (CA)), priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling, priority handling between logical channels of one UE by means of logical channel prioritization, and/or padding. A MAC entity may support one or multiple numerologies and/or transmission timings. In an example, mapping restrictions in a logical channel prioritization may control which numerology and/or transmission timing a logical channel may use. In an example, an RLC sublayer may supports transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM) and acknowledged mode (AM) transmission modes. The RLC configuration may be per logical channel with no dependency on numerologies and/or Transmission Time Interval (TTI) durations. In an example, Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ) may operate on any of the numerologies and/or TTI durations the logical channel is configured with. In an example, services and functions of the PDCP layer for the user plane may comprise sequence numbering, header compression and decompression, transfer of user data, reordering and duplicate detection, PDCP PDU routing (e.g. in case of split bearers), retransmission of PDCP SDUs, ciphering, deciphering and integrity protection, PDCP SDU discard, PDCP re-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM, and/or duplication of PDCP PDUs. In an example, services and functions of SDAP may comprise mapping between a QoS flow and a data radio bearer. In an example, services and functions of SDAP may comprise mapping Quality of Service Indicator (QFI) in DL and UL packets. In an example, a protocol entity of SDAP may be configured for an individual PDU session.

FIG. 2B is an example control plane protocol stack where PDCP (e.g. 233 and 242), RLC (e.g. 234 and 243) and MAC (e.g. 235 and 244) sublayers and PHY (e.g. 236 and 245) layer may be terminated in wireless device (e.g. 110) and gNB (e.g. 120) on a network side and perform service and functions described above. In an example, RRC (e.g. 232 and 241) may be terminated in a wireless device and a gNB on a network side. In an example, services and functions of RRC may comprise broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS, paging initiated by 5GC or RAN, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and RAN, security functions including key management, establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) and Data Radio Bearers (DRBs), mobility functions, QoS management functions, UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting, detection of and recovery from radio link failure, and/or NAS message transfer to/from NAS from/to a UE. In an example, NAS control protocol (e.g. 231 and 251) may be terminated in the wireless device and AMF (e.g. 130) on a network side and may perform functions such as authentication, mobility management between a UE and a AMF for 3GPP access and non-3GPP access, and session management between a UE and a SMF for 3GPP access and non-3GPP access.

In an example, a base station may configure a plurality of logical channels for a wireless device. A logical channel in the plurality of logical channels may correspond to a radio bearer and the radio bearer may be associated with a QoS requirement. In an example, a base station may configure a logical channel to be mapped to one or more TTIs/numerologies in a plurality of TTIs/numerologies. The wireless device may receive a Downlink Control Information (DCI) via Physical Downlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) indicating an uplink grant. In an example, the uplink grant may be for a first TTI/numerology and may indicate uplink resources for transmission of a transport block. The base station may configure each logical channel in the plurality of logical channels with one or more parameters to be used by a logical channel prioritization procedure at the MAC layer of the wireless device. The one or more parameters may comprise priority, prioritized bit rate, etc. A logical channel in the plurality of logical channels may correspond to one or more buffers comprising data associated with the logical channel. The logical channel prioritization procedure may allocate the uplink resources to one or more first logical channels in the plurality of logical channels and/or one or more MAC Control Elements (CEs). The one or more first logical channels may be mapped to the first TTI/numerology. The MAC layer at the wireless device may multiplex one or more MAC CEs and/or one or more MAC SDUs (e.g., logical channel) in a MAC PDU (e.g., transport block). In an example, the MAC PDU may comprise a MAC header comprising a plurality of MAC sub-headers. A MAC sub-header in the plurality of MAC sub-headers may correspond to a MAC CE or a MAC SUD (logical channel) in the one or more MAC CEs and/or one or more MAC SDUs. In an example, a MAC CE or a logical channel may be configured with a Logical Channel IDentifier (LCID). In an example, LCID for a logical channel or a MAC CE may be fixed/pre-configured. In an example, LCID for a logical channel or MAC CE may be configured for the wireless device by the base station. The MAC sub-header corresponding to a MAC CE or a MAC SDU may comprise LCID associated with the MAC CE or the MAC SDU.

In an example, a base station may activate and/or deactivate and/or impact one or more processes (e.g., set values of one or more parameters of the one or more processes or start and/or stop one or more timers of the one or more processes) at the wireless device by employing one or more MAC commands. The one or more MAC commands may comprise one or more MAC control elements. In an example, the one or more processes may comprise activation and/or deactivation of PDCP packet duplication for one or more radio bearers. The base station may transmit a MAC CE comprising one or more fields, the values of the fields indicating activation and/or deactivation of PDCP duplication for the one or more radio bearers. In an example, the one or more processes may comprise Channel State Information (CSI) transmission of on one or more cells. The base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs indicating activation and/or deactivation of the CSI transmission on the one or more cells. In an example, the one or more processes may comprise activation or deactivation of one or more secondary cells. In an example, the base station may transmit a MA CE indicating activation or deactivation of one or more secondary cells. In an example, the base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs indicating starting and/or stopping one or more Discontinuous Reception (DRX) timers at the wireless device. In an example, the base station may transmit one or more MAC CEs indicating one or more timing advance values for one or more Timing Advance Groups (TAGs).

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of base stations (base station 1, 120A, and base station 2, 120B) and a wireless device 110. A wireless device may be called an UE. A base station may be called a NB, eNB, gNB, and/or ng-eNB. In an example, a wireless device and/or a base station may act as a relay node. The base station 1, 120A, may comprise at least one communication interface 320A (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, a wired modem, and/or the like), at least one processor 321A, and at least one set of program code instructions 323A stored in non-transitory memory 322A and executable by the at least one processor 321A. The base station 2, 120B, may comprise at least one communication interface 320B, at least one processor 321B, and at least one set of program code instructions 323B stored in non-transitory memory 322B and executable by the at least one processor 321B.

A base station may comprise many sectors for example: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 sectors. A base station may comprise many cells, for example, ranging from 1 to 50 cells or more. A cell may be categorized, for example, as a primary cell or secondary cell. At Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment/re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may provide the NAS (non-access stratum) mobility information (e.g. Tracking Area Identifier (TAI)). At RRC connection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may provide the security input. This cell may be referred to as the Primary Cell (PCell). In the downlink, a carrier corresponding to the PCell may be a DL Primary Component Carrier (PCC), while in the uplink, a carrier may be an UL PCC. Depending on wireless device capabilities, Secondary Cells (SCells) may be configured to form together with a PCell a set of serving cells. In a downlink, a carrier corresponding to an SCell may be a downlink secondary component carrier (DL SCC), while in an uplink, a carrier may be an uplink secondary component carrier (UL SCC). An SCell may or may not have an uplink carrier.

A cell, comprising a downlink carrier and optionally an uplink carrier, may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index. A carrier (downlink or uplink) may belong to one cell. The cell ID or cell index may also identify the downlink carrier or uplink carrier of the cell (depending on the context it is used). In the disclosure, a cell ID may be equally referred to a carrier ID, and a cell index may be referred to a carrier index. In an implementation, a physical cell ID or a cell index may be assigned to a cell. A cell ID may be determined using a synchronization signal transmitted on a downlink carrier. A cell index may be determined using RRC messages. For example, when the disclosure refers to a first physical cell ID for a first downlink carrier, the disclosure may mean the first physical cell ID is for a cell comprising the first downlink carrier. The same concept may apply to, for example, carrier activation. When the disclosure indicates that a first carrier is activated, the specification may equally mean that a cell comprising the first carrier is activated.

A base station may transmit to a wireless device one or more messages (e.g. RRC messages) comprising a plurality of configuration parameters for one or more cells. One or more cells may comprise at least one primary cell and at least one secondary cell. In an example, an RRC message may be broadcasted or unicasted to the wireless device. In an example, configuration parameters may comprise common parameters and dedicated parameters.

Services and/or functions of an RRC sublayer may comprise at least one of: broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS; paging initiated by 5GC and/or NG-RAN; establishment, maintenance, and/or release of an RRC connection between a wireless device and NG-RAN, which may comprise at least one of addition, modification and release of carrier aggregation; or addition, modification, and/or release of dual connectivity in NR or between E-UTRA and NR. Services and/or functions of an RRC sublayer may further comprise at least one of security functions comprising key management; establishment, configuration, maintenance, and/or release of Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) and/or Data Radio Bearers (DRBs); mobility functions which may comprise at least one of a handover (e.g. intra NR mobility or inter-RAT mobility) and a context transfer; or a wireless device cell selection and reselection and control of cell selection and reselection. Services and/or functions of an RRC sublayer may further comprise at least one of QoS management functions; a wireless device measurement configuration/reporting; detection of and/or recovery from radio link failure; or NAS message transfer to/from a core network entity (e.g. AMF, Mobility Management Entity (MME)) from/to the wireless device.

An RRC sublayer may support an RRC_Idle state, an RRC_Inactive state and/or an RRC_Connected state for a wireless device. In an RRC_Idle state, a wireless device may perform at least one of: Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) selection; receiving broadcasted system information; cell selection/re-selection; monitoring/receiving a paging for mobile terminated data initiated by 5GC; paging for mobile terminated data area managed by 5GC; or DRX for CN paging configured via NAS. In an RRC_Inactive state, a wireless device may perform at least one of: receiving broadcasted system information; cell selection/re-selection; monitoring/receiving a RAN/CN paging initiated by NG-RAN/5GC; RAN-based notification area (RNA) managed by NG-RAN; or DRX for RAN/CN paging configured by NG-RAN/NAS. In an RRC_Idle state of a wireless device, a base station (e.g. NG-RAN) may keep a 5GC-NG-RAN connection (both C/U-planes) for the wireless device; and/or store a UE AS context for the wireless device. In an RRC_Connected state of a wireless device, a base station (e.g. NG-RAN) may perform at least one of: establishment of 5GC-NG-RAN connection (both C/U-planes) for the wireless device; storing a UE AS context for the wireless device; transmit/receive of unicast data to/from the wireless device; or network-controlled mobility based on measurement results received from the wireless device. In an RRC_Connected state of a wireless device, an NG-RAN may know a cell that the wireless device belongs to.

System information (SI) may be divided into minimum SI and other SI. The minimum SI may be periodically broadcast. The minimum SI may comprise basic information required for initial access and information for acquiring any other SI broadcast periodically or provisioned on-demand, i.e. scheduling information. The other SI may either be broadcast, or be provisioned in a dedicated manner, either triggered by a network or upon request from a wireless device. A minimum SI may be transmitted via two different downlink channels using different messages (e.g. MasterInformationBlock and SystemInformationBlockType1). An other SI may be transmitted via SystemInformationBlockType2. For a wireless device in an RRC_Connected state, dedicated RRC signalling may be employed for the request and delivery of the other SI. For the wireless device in the RRC_Idle state and/or the RRC_Inactive state, the request may trigger a random-access procedure.

A wireless device may report its radio access capability information which may be static. A base station may request what capabilities for a wireless device to report based on band information. When allowed by a network, a temporary capability restriction request may be sent by the wireless device to signal the limited availability of some capabilities (e.g. due to hardware sharing, interference or overheating) to the base station. The base station may confirm or reject the request. The temporary capability restriction may be transparent to 5GC (e.g., static capabilities may be stored in 5GC).

When CA is configured, a wireless device may have an RRC connection with a network. At RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handover procedure, one serving cell may provide NAS mobility information, and at RRC connection re-establishment/handover, one serving cell may provide a security input. This cell may be referred to as the PCell. Depending on the capabilities of the wireless device, SCells may be configured to form together with the PCell a set of serving cells. The configured set of serving cells for the wireless device may comprise one PCell and one or more SCells.

The reconfiguration, addition and removal of SCells may be performed by RRC. At intra-NR handover, RRC may also add, remove, or reconfigure SCells for usage with the target PCell. When adding a new SCell, dedicated RRC signalling may be employed to send all required system information of the SCell i.e. while in connected mode, wireless devices may not need to acquire broadcasted system information directly from the SCells.

The purpose of an RRC connection reconfiguration procedure may be to modify an RRC connection, (e.g. to establish, modify and/or release RBs, to perform handover, to setup, modify, and/or release measurements, to add, modify, and/or release SCells and cell groups). As part of the RRC connection reconfiguration procedure, NAS dedicated information may be transferred from the network to the wireless device. The RRCConnectionReconfiguration message may be a command to modify an RRC connection. It may convey information for measurement configuration, mobility control, radio resource configuration (e.g. RBs, MAC main configuration and physical channel configuration) comprising any associated dedicated NAS information and security configuration. If the received RRC Connection Reconfiguration message includes the sCellToReleaseList, the wireless device may perform an SCell release. If the received RRC Connection Reconfiguration message includes the sCellToAddModList, the wireless device may perform SCell additions or modification.

An RRC connection establishment (or reestablishment, resume) procedure may be to establish (or reestablish, resume) an RRC connection. an RRC connection establishment procedure may comprise SRB1 establishment. The RRC connection establishment procedure may be used to transfer the initial NAS dedicated information/message from a wireless device to E-UTRAN. The RRCConnectionReestablishment message may be used to re-establish SRB1.

A measurement report procedure may be to transfer measurement results from a wireless device to NG-RAN. The wireless device may initiate a measurement report procedure after successful security activation. A measurement report message may be employed to transmit measurement results.

The wireless device 110 may comprise at least one communication interface 310 (e.g. a wireless modem, an antenna, and/or the like), at least one processor 314, and at least one set of program code instructions 316 stored in non-transitory memory 315 and executable by the at least one processor 314. The wireless device 110 may further comprise at least one of at least one speaker/microphone 311, at least one keypad 312, at least one display/touchpad 313, at least one power source 317, at least one global positioning system (GPS) chipset 318, and other peripherals 319.

The processor 314 of the wireless device 110, the processor 321A of the base station 1 120A, and/or the processor 321B of the base station 2 120B may comprise at least one of a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a controller, a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and/or other programmable logic device, discrete gate and/or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, and the like. The processor 314 of the wireless device 110, the processor 321A in base station 1 120A, and/or the processor 321B in base station 2 120B may perform at least one of signal coding/processing, data processing, power control, input/output processing, and/or any other functionality that may enable the wireless device 110, the base station 1 120A and/or the base station 2 120B to operate in a wireless environment.

The processor 314 of the wireless device 110 may be connected to the speaker/microphone 311, the keypad 312, and/or the display/touchpad 313. The processor 314 may receive user input data from and/or provide user output data to the speaker/microphone 311, the keypad 312, and/or the display/touchpad 313. The processor 314 in the wireless device 110 may receive power from the power source 317 and/or may be configured to distribute the power to the other components in the wireless device 110. The power source 317 may comprise at least one of one or more dry cell batteries, solar cells, fuel cells, and the like. The processor 314 may be connected to the GPS chipset 318. The GPS chipset 318 may be configured to provide geographic location information of the wireless device 110.

The processor 314 of the wireless device 110 may further be connected to other peripherals 319, which may comprise one or more software and/or hardware modules that provide additional features and/or functionalities. For example, the peripherals 319 may comprise at least one of an accelerometer, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera, a universal serial bus (USB) port, a hands-free headset, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a media player, an Internet browser, and the like.

The communication interface 320A of the base station 1, 120A, and/or the communication interface 320B of the base station 2, 120B, may be configured to communicate with the communication interface 310 of the wireless device 110 via a wireless link 330A and/or a wireless link 330B respectively. In an example, the communication interface 320A of the base station 1, 120A, may communicate with the communication interface 320B of the base station 2 and other RAN and core network nodes.

The wireless link 330A and/or the wireless link 330B may comprise at least one of a bi-directional link and/or a directional link. The communication interface 310 of the wireless device 110 may be configured to communicate with the communication interface 320A of the base station 1 120A and/or with the communication interface 320B of the base station 2 120B. The base station 1 120A and the wireless device 110 and/or the base station 2 120B and the wireless device 110 may be configured to send and receive transport blocks via the wireless link 330A and/or via the wireless link 330B, respectively. The wireless link 330A and/or the wireless link 330B may employ at least one frequency carrier. According to some of various aspects of embodiments, transceiver(s) may be employed. A transceiver may be a device that comprises both a transmitter and a receiver. Transceivers may be employed in devices such as wireless devices, base stations, relay nodes, and/or the like. Example embodiments for radio technology implemented in the communication interface 310, 320A, 320B and the wireless link 330A, 330B are illustrated in FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, FIG. 4C, FIG. 4D, FIG. 6, FIG. 7A, FIG. 7B, FIG. 8, and associated text.

In an example, other nodes in a wireless network (e.g. AMF, UPF, SMF, etc) may comprise one or more communication interfaces, one or more processors, and memory storing instructions.

A node (e.g. wireless device, base station, AMF, SMF, UPF, servers, switches, antennas, and/or the like) may comprise one or more processors, and memory storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors causes the node to perform certain processes and/or functions. Example embodiments may enable operation of single-carrier and/or multi-carrier communications. Other example embodiments may comprise a non-transitory tangible computer readable media comprising instructions executable by one or more processors to cause operation of single-carrier and/or multi-carrier communications. Yet other example embodiments may comprise an article of manufacture that comprises a non-transitory tangible computer readable machine-accessible medium having instructions encoded thereon for enabling programmable hardware to cause a node to enable operation of single-carrier and/or multi-carrier communications. The node may include processors, memory, interfaces, and/or the like.

An interface may comprise at least one of a hardware interface, a firmware interface, a software interface, and/or a combination thereof. The hardware interface may comprise connectors, wires, electronic devices such as drivers, amplifiers, and/or the like. The software interface may comprise code stored in a memory device to implement protocol(s), protocol layers, communication drivers, device drivers, combinations thereof, and/or the like. The firmware interface may comprise a combination of embedded hardware and code stored in and/or in communication with a memory device to implement connections, electronic device operations, protocol(s), protocol layers, communication drivers, device drivers, hardware operations, combinations thereof, and/or the like.

FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, FIG. 4C and FIG. 4D are example diagrams for uplink and downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 4A shows an example uplink transmitter for at least one physical channel. A baseband signal representing a physical uplink shared channel may perform one or more functions. The one or more functions may comprise at least one of: scrambling; modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued symbols; mapping of the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmission layers; transform precoding to generate complex-valued symbols; precoding of the complex-valued symbols; mapping of precoded complex-valued symbols to resource elements; generation of complex-valued time-domain Single Carrier-Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) or CP-OFDM signal for an antenna port; and/or the like. In an example, when transform precoding is enabled, a SC-FDMA signal for uplink transmission may be generated. In an example, when transform precoding is not enabled, an CP-OFDM signal for uplink transmission may be generated by FIG. 4A. These functions are illustrated as examples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in various embodiments.

An example structure for modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of the complex-valued SC-FDMA or CP-OFDM baseband signal for an antenna port and/or the complex-valued Physical Random Access CHannel (PRACH) baseband signal is shown in FIG. 4B. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

An example structure for downlink transmissions is shown in FIG. 4C. The baseband signal representing a downlink physical channel may perform one or more functions. The one or more functions may comprise: scrambling of coded bits in a codeword to be transmitted on a physical channel; modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued modulation symbols; mapping of the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmission layers; precoding of the complex-valued modulation symbols on a layer for transmission on the antenna ports; mapping of complex-valued modulation symbols for an antenna port to resource elements; generation of complex-valued time-domain OFDM signal for an antenna port; and/or the like. These functions are illustrated as examples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in various embodiments.

In an example, a gNB may transmit a first symbol and a second symbol on an antenna port, to a wireless device. The wireless device may infer the channel (e.g., fading gain, multipath delay, etc.) for conveying the second symbol on the antenna port, from the channel for conveying the first symbol on the antenna port. In an example, a first antenna port and a second antenna port may be quasi co-located if one or more large-scale properties of the channel over which a first symbol on the first antenna port is conveyed may be inferred from the channel over which a second symbol on a second antenna port is conveyed. The one or more large-scale properties may comprise at least one of: delay spread; doppler spread; doppler shift; average gain; average delay; and/or spatial Receiving (Rx) parameters.

An example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of the complex-valued OFDM baseband signal for an antenna port is shown in FIG. 4D. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

FIG. 5A is a diagram of an example uplink channel mapping and example uplink physical signals. FIG. 5B is a diagram of an example downlink channel mapping and a downlink physical signals. In an example, a physical layer may provide one or more information transfer services to a MAC and/or one or more higher layers. For example, the physical layer may provide the one or more information transfer services to the MAC via one or more transport channels. An information transfer service may indicate how and with what characteristics data are transferred over the radio interface.

In an example embodiment, a radio network may comprise one or more downlink and/or uplink transport channels. For example, a diagram in FIG. 5A shows example uplink transport channels comprising Uplink-Shared CHannel (UL-SCH) 501 and Random Access CHannel (RACH) 502. A diagram in FIG. 5B shows example downlink transport channels comprising Downlink-Shared CHannel (DL-SCH) 511, Paging CHannel (PCH) 512, and Broadcast CHannel (BCH) 513. A transport channel may be mapped to one or more corresponding physical channels. For example, UL-SCH 501 may be mapped to Physical Uplink Shared CHannel (PUSCH) 503. RACH 502 may be mapped to PRACH 505. DL-SCH 511 and PCH 512 may be mapped to Physical Downlink Shared CHannel (PDSCH) 514. BCH 513 may be mapped to Physical Broadcast CHannel (PBCH) 516.

There may be one or more physical channels without a corresponding transport channel. The one or more physical channels may be employed for Uplink Control Information (UCI) 509 and/or Downlink Control Information (DCI) 517. For example, Physical Uplink Control CHannel (PUCCH) 504 may carry UCI 509 from a UE to a base station. For example, Physical Downlink Control CHannel (PDCCH) 515 may carry DCI 517 from a base station to a UE. NR may support UCI 509 multiplexing in PUSCH 503 when UCI 509 and PUSCH 503 transmissions may coincide in a slot at least in part. The UCI 509 may comprise at least one of CSI, Acknowledgement (ACK)/Negative Acknowledgement (NACK), and/or scheduling request. The DCI 517 on PDCCH 515 may indicate at least one of following: one or more downlink assignments and/or one or more uplink scheduling grants

In uplink, a UE may transmit one or more Reference Signals (RSs) to a base station. For example, the one or more RSs may be at least one of Demodulation-RS (DM-RS) 506, Phase Tracking-RS (PT-RS) 507, and/or Sounding RS (SRS) 508. In downlink, a base station may transmit (e.g., unicast, multicast, and/or broadcast) one or more RSs to a UE. For example, the one or more RSs may be at least one of Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS)/Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) 521, CSI-RS 522, DM-RS 523, and/or PT-RS 524.

In an example, a UE may transmit one or more uplink DM-RSs 506 to a base station for channel estimation, for example, for coherent demodulation of one or more uplink physical channels (e.g., PUSCH 503 and/or PUCCH 504). For example, a UE may transmit a base station at least one uplink DM-RS 506 with PUSCH 503 and/or PUCCH 504, wherein the at least one uplink DM-RS 506 may be spanning a same frequency range as a corresponding physical channel. In an example, a base station may configure a UE with one or more uplink DM-RS configurations. At least one DM-RS configuration may support a front-loaded DM-RS pattern. A front-loaded DM-RS may be mapped over one or more OFDM symbols (e.g., 1 or 2 adjacent OFDM symbols). One or more additional uplink DM-RS may be configured to transmit at one or more symbols of a PUSCH and/or PUCCH. A base station may semi-statistically configure a UE with a maximum number of front-loaded DM-RS symbols for PUSCH and/or PUCCH. For example, a UE may schedule a single-symbol DM-RS and/or double symbol DM-RS based on a maximum number of front-loaded DM-RS symbols, wherein a base station may configure the UE with one or more additional uplink DM-RS for PUSCH and/or PUCCH. A new radio network may support, e.g., at least for CP-OFDM, a common DM-RS structure for DL and UL, wherein a DM-RS location, DM-RS pattern, and/or scrambling sequence may be same or different.

In an example, whether uplink PT-RS 507 is present or not may depend on a RRC configuration. For example, a presence of uplink PT-RS may be UE-specifically configured. For example, a presence and/or a pattern of uplink PT-RS 507 in a scheduled resource may be UE-specifically configured by a combination of RRC signaling and/or association with one or more parameters employed for other purposes (e.g., Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS)) which may be indicated by DCI. When configured, a dynamic presence of uplink PT-RS 507 may be associated with one or more DCI parameters comprising at least MCS. A radio network may support plurality of uplink PT-RS densities defined in time/frequency domain. When present, a frequency domain density may be associated with at least one configuration of a scheduled bandwidth. A UE may assume a same precoding for a DMRS port and a PT-RS port. A number of PT-RS ports may be fewer than a number of DM-RS ports in a scheduled resource. For example, uplink PT-RS 507 may be confined in the scheduled time/frequency duration for a UE.

In an example, a UE may transmit SRS 508 to a base station for channel state estimation to support uplink channel dependent scheduling and/or link adaptation. For example, SRS 508 transmitted by a UE may allow for a base station to estimate an uplink channel state at one or more different frequencies. A base station scheduler may employ an uplink channel state to assign one or more resource blocks of good quality for an uplink PUSCH transmission from a UE. A base station may semi-statistically configure a UE with one or more SRS resource sets. For an SRS resource set, a base station may configure a UE with one or more SRS resources. An SRS resource set applicability may be configured by a higher layer (e.g., RRC) parameter. For example, when a higher layer parameter indicates beam management, a SRS resource in each of one or more SRS resource sets may be transmitted at a time instant. A UE may transmit one or more SRS resources in different SRS resource sets simultaneously. A new radio network may support aperiodic, periodic and/or semi-persistent SRS transmissions. A UE may transmit SRS resources based on one or more trigger types, wherein the one or more trigger types may comprise higher layer signaling (e.g., RRC) and/or one or more DCI formats (e.g., at least one DCI format may be employed for a UE to select at least one of one or more configured SRS resource sets. An SRS trigger type 0 may refer to an SRS triggered based on a higher layer signaling. An SRS trigger type 1 may refer to an SRS triggered based on one or more DCI formats. In an example, when PUSCH 503 and SRS 508 are transmitted in a same slot, a UE may be configured to transmit SRS 508 after a transmission of PUSCH 503 and corresponding uplink DM-RS 506.

In an example, a base station may semi-statistically configure a UE with one or more SRS configuration parameters indicating at least one of following: a SRS resource configuration identifier, a number of SRS ports, time domain behavior of SRS resource configuration (e.g., an indication of periodic, semi-persistent, or aperiodic SRS), slot (mini-slot, and/or subframe) level periodicity and/or offset for a periodic and/or aperiodic SRS resource, a number of OFDM symbols in a SRS resource, starting OFDM symbol of a SRS resource, a SRS bandwidth, a frequency hopping bandwidth, a cyclic shift, and/or a SRS sequence ID.

In an example, in a time domain, an SS/PBCH block may comprise one or more OFDM symbols (e.g., 4 OFDM symbols numbered in increasing order from 0 to 3) within the SS/PBCH block. An SS/PBCH block may comprise PSS/SSS 521 and PBCH 516. In an example, in the frequency domain, an SS/PBCH block may comprise one or more contiguous subcarriers (e.g., 240 contiguous subcarriers with the subcarriers numbered in increasing order from 0 to 239) within the SS/PBCH block. For example, a PSS/SSS 521 may occupy 1 OFDM symbol and 127 subcarriers. For example, PBCH 516 may span across 3 OFDM symbols and 240 subcarriers. A UE may assume that one or more SS/PBCH blocks transmitted with a same block index may be quasi co-located, e.g., with respect to Doppler spread, Doppler shift, average gain, average delay, and spatial Rx parameters. A UE may not assume quasi co-location for other SS/PBCH block transmissions. A periodicity of an SS/PBCH block may be configured by a radio network (e.g., by an RRC signaling) and one or more time locations where the SS/PBCH block may be sent may be determined by sub-carrier spacing. In an example, a UE may assume a band-specific sub-carrier spacing for an SS/PBCH block unless a radio network has configured a UE to assume a different sub-carrier spacing.

In an example, downlink CSI-RS 522 may be employed for a UE to acquire channel state information. A radio network may support periodic, aperiodic, and/or semi-persistent transmission of downlink CSI-RS 522. For example, a base station may semi-statistically configure and/or reconfigure a UE with periodic transmission of downlink CSI-RS 522. A configured CSI-RS resources may be activated ad/or deactivated. For semi-persistent transmission, an activation and/or deactivation of CSI-RS resource may be triggered dynamically. In an example, CSI-RS configuration may comprise one or more parameters indicating at least a number of antenna ports. For example, a base station may configure a UE with 32 ports. A base station may semi-statistically configure a UE with one or more CSI-RS resource sets. One or more CSI-RS resources may be allocated from one or more CSI-RS resource sets to one or more UEs. For example, a base station may semi-statistically configure one or more parameters indicating CSI RS resource mapping, for example, time-domain location of one or more CSI-RS resources, a bandwidth of a CSI-RS resource, and/or a periodicity. In an example, a UE may be configured to employ a same OFDM symbols for downlink CSI-RS 522 and control resource set (coreset) when the downlink CSI-RS 522 and coreset are spatially quasi co-located and resource elements associated with the downlink CSI-RS 522 are the outside of PRBs configured for coreset. In an example, a UE may be configured to employ a same OFDM symbols for downlink CSI-RS 522 and SS/PBCH blocks when the downlink CSI-RS 522 and SS/PBCH blocks are spatially quasi co-located and resource elements associated with the downlink CSI-RS 522 are the outside of PRBs configured for SS/PBCH blocks.

In an example, a UE may transmit one or more downlink DM-RSs 523 to a base station for channel estimation, for example, for coherent demodulation of one or more downlink physical channels (e.g., PDSCH 514). For example, a radio network may support one or more variable and/or configurable DM-RS patterns for data demodulation. At least one downlink DM-RS configuration may support a front-loaded DM-RS pattern. A front-loaded DM-RS may be mapped over one or more OFDM symbols (e.g., 1 or 2 adjacent OFDM symbols). A base station may semi-statistically configure a UE with a maximum number of front-loaded DM-RS symbols for PDSCH 514. For example, a DM-RS configuration may support one or more DM-RS ports. For example, for single user-MIMO, a DM-RS configuration may support at least 8 orthogonal downlink DM-RS ports. For example, for multiuser-MIMO, a DM-RS configuration may support 12 orthogonal downlink DM-RS ports. A radio network may support, e.g., at least for CP-OFDM, a common DM-RS structure for DL and UL, wherein a DM-RS location, DM-RS pattern, and/or scrambling sequence may be same or different.

In an example, whether downlink PT-RS 524 is present or not may depend on a RRC configuration. For example, a presence of downlink PT-RS 524 may be UE-specifically configured. For example, a presence and/or a pattern of downlink PT-RS 524 in a scheduled resource may be UE-specifically configured by a combination of RRC signaling and/or association with one or more parameters employed for other purposes (e.g., MCS) which may be indicated by DCI. When configured, a dynamic presence of downlink PT-RS 524 may be associated with one or more DCI parameters comprising at least MCS. A radio network may support plurality of PT-RS densities defined in time/frequency domain. When present, a frequency domain density may be associated with at least one configuration of a scheduled bandwidth. A UE may assume a same precoding for a DMRS port and a PT-RS port. A number of PT-RS ports may be fewer than a number of DM-RS ports in a scheduled resource. For example, downlink PT-RS 524 may be confined in the scheduled time/frequency duration for a UE.

FIG. 6 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and reception time for a carrier as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. A multicarrier OFDM communication system may include one or more carriers, for example, ranging from 1 to 32 carriers, in case of carrier aggregation, or ranging from 1 to 64 carriers, in case of dual connectivity. Different radio frame structures may be supported (e.g., for FDD and for TDD duplex mechanisms). FIG. 6 shows an example frame timing. Downlink and uplink transmissions may be organized into radio frames 601. In this example, radio frame duration is 10 ms. In this example, a 10 ms radio frame 601 may be divided into ten equally sized subframes 602 with 1 ms duration. Subframe(s) may comprise one or more slots (e.g. slots 603 and 605) depending on subcarrier spacing and/or CP length. For example, a subframe with 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, 240 kHz and 480 kHz subcarrier spacing may comprise one, two, four, eight, sixteen and thirty-two slots, respectively. In FIG. 6, a subframe may be divided into two equally sized slots 603 with 0.5 ms duration. For example, 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and 10 subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in a 10 ms interval. Uplink and downlink transmissions may be separated in the frequency domain. Slot(s) may include a plurality of OFDM symbols 604. The number of OFDM symbols 604 in a slot 605 may depend on the cyclic prefix length. For example, a slot may be 14 OFDM symbols for the same subcarrier spacing of up to 480 kHz with normal CP. A slot may be 12 OFDM symbols for the same subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz with extended CP. A slot may contain downlink, uplink, or a downlink part and an uplink part and/or alike.

FIG. 7A is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. In the example, a gNB may communicate with a wireless device with a carrier with an example channel bandwidth 700. Arrow(s) in the diagram may depict a subcarrier in a multicarrier OFDM system. The OFDM system may use technology such as OFDM technology, SC-FDMA technology, and/or the like. In an example, an arrow 701 shows a subcarrier transmitting information symbols. In an example, a subcarrier spacing 702, between two contiguous subcarriers in a carrier, may be any one of 15 KHz, 30 KHz, 60 KHz, 120 KHz, 240 KHz etc. In an example, different subcarrier spacing may correspond to different transmission numerologies. In an example, a transmission numerology may comprise at least: a numerology index; a value of subcarrier spacing; a type of cyclic prefix (CP). In an example, a gNB may transmit to/receive from a UE on a number of subcarriers 703 in a carrier. In an example, a bandwidth occupied by a number of subcarriers 703 (transmission bandwidth) may be smaller than the channel bandwidth 700 of a carrier, due to guard band 704 and 705. In an example, a guard band 704 and 705 may be used to reduce interference to and from one or more neighbor carriers. A number of subcarriers (transmission bandwidth) in a carrier may depend on the channel bandwidth of the carrier and the subcarrier spacing. For example, a transmission bandwidth, for a carrier with 20 MHz channel bandwidth and 15 KHz subcarrier spacing, may be in number of 1024 subcarriers.

In an example, a gNB and a wireless device may communicate with multiple CCs when configured with CA. In an example, different component carriers may have different bandwidth and/or subcarrier spacing, if CA is supported. In an example, a gNB may transmit a first type of service to a UE on a first component carrier. The gNB may transmit a second type of service to the UE on a second component carrier. Different type of services may have different service requirement (e.g., data rate, latency, reliability), which may be suitable for transmission via different component carrier having different subcarrier spacing and/or bandwidth. FIG. 7B shows an example embodiment. A first component carrier may comprise a first number of subcarriers 706 with a first subcarrier spacing 709. A second component carrier may comprise a second number of subcarriers 707 with a second subcarrier spacing 710. A third component carrier may comprise a third number of subcarriers 708 with a third subcarrier spacing 711. Carriers in a multicarrier OFDM communication system may be contiguous carriers, non-contiguous carriers, or a combination of both contiguous and non-contiguous carriers.

FIG. 8 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an example, a carrier may have a transmission bandwidth 801. In an example, a resource grid may be in a structure of frequency domain 802 and time domain 803. In an example, a resource grid may comprise a first number of OFDM symbols in a subframe and a second number of resource blocks, starting from a common resource block indicated by higher-layer signaling (e.g. RRC signaling), for a transmission numerology and a carrier. In an example, in a resource grid, a resource unit identified by a subcarrier index and a symbol index may be a resource element 805. In an example, a subframe may comprise a first number of OFDM symbols 807 depending on a numerology associated with a carrier. For example, when a subcarrier spacing of a numerology of a carrier is 15 KHz, a subframe may have 14 OFDM symbols for a carrier. When a subcarrier spacing of a numerology is 30 KHz, a subframe may have 28 OFDM symbols. When a subcarrier spacing of a numerology is 60 Khz, a subframe may have 56 OFDM symbols, etc. In an example, a second number of resource blocks comprised in a resource grid of a carrier may depend on a bandwidth and a numerology of the carrier.

As shown in FIG. 8, a resource block 806 may comprise 12 subcarriers. In an example, multiple resource blocks may be grouped into a Resource Block Group (RBG) 804. In an example, a size of a RBG may depend on at least one of: a RRC message indicating a RBG size configuration; a size of a carrier bandwidth; or a size of a bandwidth part of a carrier. In an example, a carrier may comprise multiple bandwidth parts. A first bandwidth part of a carrier may have different frequency location and/or bandwidth from a second bandwidth part of the carrier.

In an example, a gNB may transmit a downlink control information comprising a downlink or uplink resource block assignment to a wireless device. A base station may transmit to or receive from, a wireless device, data packets (e.g. transport blocks) scheduled and transmitted via one or more resource blocks and one or more slots according to parameters in a downlink control information and/or RRC message(s). In an example, a starting symbol relative to a first slot of the one or more slots may be indicated to the wireless device. In an example, a gNB may transmit to or receive from, a wireless device, data packets scheduled on one or more RBGs and one or more slots.

In an example, a gNB may transmit a downlink control information comprising a downlink assignment to a wireless device via one or more PDCCHs. The downlink assignment may comprise parameters indicating at least modulation and coding format; resource allocation; and/or HARQ information related to DL-SCH. In an example, a resource allocation may comprise parameters of resource block allocation; and/or slot allocation. In an example, a gNB may dynamically allocate resources to a wireless device via a Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) on one or more PDCCHs. The wireless device may monitor the one or more PDCCHs in order to find possible allocation when its downlink reception is enabled. The wireless device may receive one or more downlink data package on one or more PDSCH scheduled by the one or more PDCCHs, when successfully detecting the one or more PDCCHs.

In an example, a gNB may allocate Configured Scheduling (CS) resources for down link transmission to a wireless device. The gNB may transmit one or more RRC messages indicating a periodicity of the CS grant. The gNB may transmit a DCI via a PDCCH addressed to a Configured Scheduling-RNTI (CS-RNTI) activating the CS resources. The DCI may comprise parameters indicating that the downlink grant is a CS grant. The CS grant may be implicitly reused according to the periodicity defined by the one or more RRC messages, until deactivated.

In an example, a gNB may transmit a downlink control information comprising an uplink grant to a wireless device via one or more PDCCHs. The uplink grant may comprise parameters indicating at least modulation and coding format; resource allocation; and/or HARQ information related to UL-SCH. In an example, a resource allocation may comprise parameters of resource block allocation; and/or slot allocation. In an example, a gNB may dynamically allocate resources to a wireless device via a C-RNTI on one or more PDCCHs. The wireless device may monitor the one or more PDCCHs in order to find possible resource allocation. The wireless device may transmit one or more uplink data package via one or more PUSCH scheduled by the one or more PDCCHs, when successfully detecting the one or more PDCCHs.

In an example, a gNB may allocate CS resources for uplink data transmission to a wireless device. The gNB may transmit one or more RRC messages indicating a periodicity of the CS grant. The gNB may transmit a DCI via a PDCCH addressed to a CS-RNTI activating the CS resources. The DCI may comprise parameters indicating that the uplink grant is a CS grant. The CS grant may be implicitly reused according to the periodicity defined by the one or more RRC message, until deactivated.

In an example, a base station may transmit DCI/control signaling via PDCCH. The DCI may take a format in a plurality of formats. A DCI may comprise downlink and/or uplink scheduling information (e.g., resource allocation information, HARQ related parameters, MCS), request for CSI (e.g., aperiodic CQI reports), request for SRS, uplink power control commands for one or more cells, one or more timing information (e.g., TB transmission/reception timing, HARQ feedback timing, etc.), etc. In an example, a DCI may indicate an uplink grant comprising transmission parameters for one or more transport blocks. In an example, a DCI may indicate downlink assignment indicating parameters for receiving one or more transport blocks. In an example, a DCI may be used by base station to initiate a contention-free random access at the wireless device. In an example, the base station may transmit a DCI comprising slot format indicator (SFI) notifying a slot format. In an example, the base station may transmit a DCI comprising pre-emption indication notifying the PRB(s) and/or OFDM symbol(s) where a UE may assume no transmission is intended for the UE. In an example, the base station may transmit a DCI for group power control of PUCCH or PUSCH or SRS. In an example, a DCI may correspond to an RNTI. In an example, the wireless device may obtain an RNTI in response to completing the initial access (e.g., C-RNTI). In an example, the base station may configure an RNTI for the wireless (e.g., CS-RNTI, TPC-CS-RNTI, TPC-PUCCH-RNTI, TPC-PUSCH-RNTI, TPC-SRS-RNTI). In an example, the wireless device may compute an RNTI (e.g., the wireless device may compute RA-RNTI based on resources used for transmission of a preamble). In an example, an RNTI may have a pre-configured value (e.g., P-RNTI or SI-RNTI). In an example, a wireless device may monitor a group common search space which may be used by base station for transmitting DCIs that are intended for a group of UEs. In an example, a group common DCI may correspond to an RNTI which is commonly configured for a group of UEs. In an example, a wireless device may monitor a UE-specific search space. In an example, a UE specific DCI may correspond to an RNTI configured for the wireless device.

A NR system may support a single beam operation and/or a multi-beam operation. In a multi-beam operation, a base station may perform a downlink beam sweeping to provide coverage for common control channels and/or downlink SS blocks, which may comprise at least a PSS, a SSS, and/or PBCH. A wireless device may measure quality of a beam pair link using one or more RSs. One or more SS blocks, or one or more CSI-RS resources, associated with a CSI-RS resource index (CRI), or one or more DM-RSs of PBCH, may be used as RS for measuring quality of a beam pair link. Quality of a beam pair link may be defined as a reference signal received power (RSRP) value, or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) value, and/or a CSI value measured on RS resources. The base station may indicate whether an RS resource, used for measuring a beam pair link quality, is quasi-co-located (QCLed) with DM-RSs of a control channel. A RS resource and DM-RSs of a control channel may be called QCLed when a channel characteristics from a transmission on an RS to a wireless device, and that from a transmission on a control channel to a wireless device, are similar or same under a configured criterion. In a multi-beam operation, a wireless device may perform an uplink beam sweeping to access a cell.

A wireless device may reduce signaling overhead and time used for channel estimation and/or time/frequency synchronization via a QCL assumption of one or more antenna ports. In an example, a first antenna port may be considered to be QCLed with a second antenna port when the wireless device derives radio channel properties of the first antenna port from a measurement on the second antenna port. In an example, the radio channel properties may comprise one or more of delay spread, Doppler spread, average received power and received timing.

In an example, a wireless device may be configured to monitor PDCCH on one or more beam pair links simultaneously depending on a capability of a wireless device. This may increase robustness against beam pair link blocking. A base station may transmit one or more messages to configure a wireless device to monitor PDCCH on one or more beam pair links in different PDCCH OFDM symbols. For example, a base station may transmit higher layer signaling (e.g. RRC signaling) or MAC CE comprising parameters related to the Rx beam setting of a wireless device for monitoring PDCCH on one or more beam pair links. A base station may transmit indication of spatial QCL assumption between an DL RS antenna port(s) (for example, cell-specific CSI-RS, or wireless device-specific CSI-RS, or SS block, or PBCH with or without DM-RSs of PBCH), and DL RS antenna port(s) for demodulation of DL control channel. Signaling for beam indication for a PDCCH may be MAC CE signaling, or RRC signaling, or DCI signaling, or specification-transparent and/or implicit method, and combination of these signaling methods.

For reception of unicast DL data channel, a base station may indicate spatial QCL parameters between DL RS antenna port(s) and DM-RS antenna port(s) of DL data channel. The base station may transmit DCI (e.g. downlink grants) comprising information indicating the RS antenna port(s). The information may indicate RS antenna port(s) which may be QCLed with the DM-RS antenna port(s). Different set of DM-RS antenna port(s) for a DL data channel may be indicated as QCL with different set of the RS antenna port(s).

FIG. 9A is an example of beam sweeping in a DL channel. In an RRC_INACTIVE state or RRC_IDLE state, a wireless device may assume that SS blocks form an SS burst 940, and an SS burst set 950. The SS burst set 950 may have a given periodicity. For example, in a multi-beam operation, a base station 120 may transmit SS blocks in multiple beams, together forming a SS burst 940. One or more SS blocks may be transmitted on one beam. If multiple SS bursts 940 are transmitted with multiple beams, SS bursts together may form SS burst set 950.

A wireless device may further use CSI-RS in the multi-beam operation for estimating a beam quality of a links between a wireless device and a base station. A beam may be associated with a CSI-RS. For example, a wireless device may, based on a RSRP measurement on CSI-RS, report a beam index, as indicated in a CRI for downlink beam selection, and associated with a RSRP value of a beam. A CSI-RS may be transmitted on a CSI-RS resource including at least one of one or more antenna ports, one or more time or frequency radio resources. A CSI-RS resource may be configured in a cell-specific way by common RRC signaling, or in a wireless device-specific way by dedicated RRC signaling, and/or L1/L2 signaling. Multiple wireless devices covered by a cell may measure a cell-specific CSI-RS resource. A dedicated subset of wireless devices covered by a cell may measure a wireless device-specific CSI-RS resource.

A CSI-RS resource may be transmitted periodically, or using aperiodic transmission, or using a multi-shot or semi-persistent transmission. For example, in a periodic transmission in FIG. 9A, a base station 120 may transmit configured CSI-RS resources 940 periodically using a configured periodicity in a time domain. In an aperiodic transmission, a configured CSI-RS resource may be transmitted in a dedicated time slot. In a multi-shot or semi-persistent transmission, a configured CSI-RS resource may be transmitted within a configured period. Beams used for CSI-RS transmission may have different beam width than beams used for SS-blocks transmission.

FIG. 9B is an example of a beam management procedure in an example new radio network. A base station 120 and/or a wireless device 110 may perform a downlink L1/L2 beam management procedure. One or more of the following downlink L1/L2 beam management procedures may be performed within one or more wireless devices 110 and one or more base stations 120. In an example, a P-1 procedure 910 may be used to enable the wireless device 110 to measure one or more Transmission (Tx) beams associated with the base station 120 to support a selection of a first set of Tx beams associated with the base station 120 and a first set of Rx beam(s) associated with a wireless device 110. For beamforming at a base station 120, a base station 120 may sweep a set of different TX beams. For beamforming at a wireless device 110, a wireless device 110 may sweep a set of different Rx beams. In an example, a P-2 procedure 920 may be used to enable a wireless device 110 to measure one or more Tx beams associated with a base station 120 to possibly change a first set of Tx beams associated with a base station 120. A P-2 procedure 920 may be performed on a possibly smaller set of beams for beam refinement than in the P-1 procedure 910. A P-2 procedure 920 may be a special case of a P-1 procedure 910. In an example, a P-3 procedure 930 may be used to enable a wireless device 110 to measure at least one Tx beam associated with a base station 120 to change a first set of Rx beams associated with a wireless device 110.

A wireless device 110 may transmit one or more beam management reports to a base station 120. In one or more beam management reports, a wireless device 110 may indicate some beam pair quality parameters, comprising at least, one or more beam identifications; RSRP; Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI)/Channel Quality Indicator (CQI)/Rank Indicator (RI) of a subset of configured beams. Based on one or more beam management reports, a base station 120 may transmit to a wireless device 110 a signal indicating that one or more beam pair links are one or more serving beams. A base station 120 may transmit PDCCH and PDSCH for a wireless device 110 using one or more serving beams.

In an example embodiment, new radio network may support a Bandwidth Adaptation (BA). In an example, receive and/or transmit bandwidths configured by an UE employing a BA may not be large. For example, a receive and/or transmit bandwidths may not be as large as a bandwidth of a cell. Receive and/or transmit bandwidths may be adjustable. For example, a UE may change receive and/or transmit bandwidths, e.g., to shrink during period of low activity to save power. For example, a UE may change a location of receive and/or transmit bandwidths in a frequency domain, e.g. to increase scheduling flexibility. For example, a UE may change a subcarrier spacing, e.g. to allow different services.

In an example embodiment, a subset of a total cell bandwidth of a cell may be referred to as a Bandwidth Part (BWP). A base station may configure a UE with one or more BWPs to achieve a BA. For example, a base station may indicate, to a UE, which of the one or more (configured) BWPs is an active BWP.

FIG. 10 is an example diagram of 3 BWPs configured: BWP1 (1010 and 1050) with a width of 40 MHz and subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz; BWP2 (1020 and 1040) with a width of 10 MHz and subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz; BWP3 1030 with a width of 20 MHz and subcarrier spacing of 60 kHz.

In an example, a UE, configured for operation in one or more BWPs of a cell, may be configured by one or more higher layers (e.g. RRC layer) for a cell a set of one or more BWPs (e.g., at most four BWPs) for receptions by the UE (DL BWP set) in a DL bandwidth by at least one parameter DL-BWP and a set of one or more BWPs (e.g., at most four BWPs) for transmissions by a UE (UL BWP set) in an UL bandwidth by at least one parameter UL-BWP for a cell.

To enable BA on the PCell, a base station may configure a UE with one or more UL and DL BWP pairs. To enable BA on SCells (e.g., in case of CA), a base station may configure a UE at least with one or more DL BWPs (e.g., there may be none in an UL).

In an example, an initial active DL BWP may be defined by at least one of a location and number of contiguous PRBs, a subcarrier spacing, or a cyclic prefix, for a control resource set for at least one common search space. For operation on the PCell, one or more higher layer parameters may indicate at least one initial UL BWP for a random access procedure. If a UE is configured with a secondary carrier on a primary cell, the UE may be configured with an initial BWP for random access procedure on a secondary carrier.

In an example, for unpaired spectrum operation, a UE may expect that a center frequency for a DL BWP may be same as a center frequency for a UL BWP.

For example, for a DL BWP or an UL BWP in a set of one or more DL BWPs or one or more UL BWPs, respectively, a base station may semi-statistically configure a UE for a cell with one or more parameters indicating at least one of following: a subcarrier spacing; a cyclic prefix; a number of contiguous PRBs; an index in the set of one or more DL BWPs and/or one or more UL BWPs; a link between a DL BWP and an UL BWP from a set of configured DL BWPs and UL BWPs; a DCI detection to a PDSCH reception timing; a PDSCH reception to a HARQ-ACK transmission timing value; a DCI detection to a PUSCH transmission timing value; an offset of a first PRB of a DL bandwidth or an UL bandwidth, respectively, relative to a first PRB of a bandwidth.

In an example, for a DL BWP in a set of one or more DL BWPs on a PCell, a base station may configure a UE with one or more control resource sets for at least one type of common search space and/or one UE-specific search space. For example, a base station may not configure a UE without a common search space on a PCell, or on a PSCell, in an active DL BWP.

For an UL BWP in a set of one or more UL BWPs, a base station may configure a UE with one or more resource sets for one or more PUCCH transmissions.

In an example, if a DCI comprises a BWP indicator field, a BWP indicator field value may indicate an active DL BWP, from a configured DL BWP set, for one or more DL receptions. If a DCI comprises a BWP indicator field, a BWP indicator field value may indicate an active UL BWP, from a configured UL BWP set, for one or more UL transmissions.

In an example, for a PCell, a base station may semi-statistically configure a UE with a default DL BWP among configured DL BWPs. If a UE is not provided a default DL BWP, a default BWP may be an initial active DL BWP.

In an example, a base station may configure a UE with a timer value for a PCell. For example, a UE may start a timer, referred to as BWP inactivity timer, when a UE detects a DCI indicating an active DL BWP, other than a default DL BWP, for a paired spectrum operation or when a UE detects a DCI indicating an active DL BWP or UL BWP, other than a default DL BWP or UL BWP, for an unpaired spectrum operation. The UE may increment the timer by an interval of a first value (e.g., the first value may be 1 millisecond or 0.5 milliseconds) if the UE does not detect a DCI during the interval for a paired spectrum operation or for an unpaired spectrum operation. In an example, the timer may expire when the timer is equal to the timer value. A UE may switch to the default DL BWP from an active DL BWP when the timer expires.

In an example, a base station may semi-statistically configure a UE with one or more BWPs. A UE may switch an active BWP from a first BWP to a second BWP in response to receiving a DCI indicating the second BWP as an active BWP and/or in response to an expiry of BWP inactivity timer (for example, the second BWP may be a default BWP). For example, FIG. 10 is an example diagram of 3 BWPs configured, BWP1 (1010 and 1050), BWP2 (1020 and 1040), and BWP3 (1030). BWP2 (1020 and 1040) may be a default BWP. BWP1 (1010) may be an initial active BWP. In an example, a UE may switch an active BWP from BWP1 1010 to BWP2 1020 in response to an expiry of BWP inactivity timer. For example, a UE may switch an active BWP from BWP2 1020 to BWP3 1030 in response to receiving a DCI indicating BWP3 1030 as an active BWP. Switching an active BWP from BWP3 1030 to BWP2 1040 and/or from BWP2 1040 to BWP1 1050 may be in response to receiving a DCI indicating an active BWP and/or in response to an expiry of BWP inactivity timer.

In an example, if a UE is configured for a secondary cell with a default DL BWP among configured DL BWPs and a timer value, UE procedures on a secondary cell may be same as on a primary cell using the timer value for the secondary cell and the default DL BWP for the secondary cell.

In an example, if a base station configures a UE with a first active DL BWP and a first active UL BWP on a secondary cell or carrier, a UE may employ an indicated DL BWP and an indicated UL BWP on a secondary cell as a respective first active DL BWP and first active UL BWP on a secondary cell or carrier.

FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B show packet flows employing a multi connectivity (e.g. dual connectivity, multi connectivity, tight interworking, and/or the like). FIG. 11A is an example diagram of a protocol structure of a wireless device 110 (e.g. UE) with CA and/or multi connectivity as per an aspect of an embodiment. FIG. 11B is an example diagram of a protocol structure of multiple base stations with CA and/or multi connectivity as per an aspect of an embodiment. The multiple base stations may comprise a master node, MN 1130 (e.g. a master node, a master base station, a master gNB, a master eNB, and/or the like) and a secondary node, SN 1150 (e.g. a secondary node, a secondary base station, a secondary gNB, a secondary eNB, and/or the like). A master node 1130 and a secondary node 1150 may co-work to communicate with a wireless device 110.

When multi connectivity is configured for a wireless device 110, the wireless device 110, which may support multiple reception/transmission functions in an RRC connected state, may be configured to utilize radio resources provided by multiple schedulers of a multiple base stations. Multiple base stations may be inter-connected via a non-ideal or ideal backhaul (e.g. Xn interface, X2 interface, and/or the like). A base station involved in multi connectivity for a certain wireless device may perform at least one of two different roles: a base station may either act as a master base station or as a secondary base station. In multi connectivity, a wireless device may be connected to one master base station and one or more secondary base stations. In an example, a master base station (e.g. the MN 1130) may provide a master cell group (MCG) comprising a primary cell and/or one or more secondary cells for a wireless device (e.g. the wireless device 110). A secondary base station (e.g. the SN 1150) may provide a secondary cell group (SCG) comprising a primary secondary cell (PSCell) and/or one or more secondary cells for a wireless device (e.g. the wireless device 110).

In multi connectivity, a radio protocol architecture that a bearer employs may depend on how a bearer is setup. In an example, three different type of bearer setup options may be supported: an MCG bearer, an SCG bearer, and/or a split bearer. A wireless device may receive/transmit packets of an MCG bearer via one or more cells of the MCG, and/or may receive/transmits packets of an SCG bearer via one or more cells of an SCG. Multi-connectivity may also be described as having at least one bearer configured to use radio resources provided by the secondary base station. Multi-connectivity may or may not be configured/implemented in some of the example embodiments.

In an example, a wireless device (e.g. Wireless Device 110) may transmit and/or receive: packets of an MCG bearer via an SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1110), a PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1111), an RLC layer (e.g. MN RLC 1114), and a MAC layer (e.g. MN MAC 1118); packets of a split bearer via an SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1110), a PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1112), one of a master or secondary RLC layer (e.g. MN RLC 1115, SN RLC 1116), and one of a master or secondary MAC layer (e.g. MN MAC 1118, SN MAC 1119); and/or packets of an SCG bearer via an SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1110), a PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1113), an RLC layer (e.g. SN RLC 1117), and a MAC layer (e.g. MN MAC 1119).

In an example, a master base station (e.g. MN 1130) and/or a secondary base station (e.g. SN 1150) may transmit/receive: packets of an MCG bearer via a master or secondary node SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1120, SDAP 1140), a master or secondary node PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1121, NR PDCP 1142), a master node RLC layer (e.g. MN RLC 1124, MN RLC 1125), and a master node MAC layer (e.g. MN MAC 1128); packets of an SCG bearer via a master or secondary node SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1120, SDAP 1140), a master or secondary node PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1122, NR PDCP 1143), a secondary node RLC layer (e.g. SN RLC 1146, SN RLC 1147), and a secondary node MAC layer (e.g. SN MAC 1148); packets of a split bearer via a master or secondary node SDAP layer (e.g. SDAP 1120, SDAP 1140), a master or secondary node PDCP layer (e.g. NR PDCP 1123, NR PDCP 1141), a master or secondary node RLC layer (e.g. MN RLC 1126, SN RLC 1144, SN RLC 1145, MN RLC 1127), and a master or secondary node MAC layer (e.g. MN MAC 1128, SN MAC 1148).

In multi connectivity, a wireless device may configure multiple MAC entities: one MAC entity (e.g. MN MAC 1118) for a master base station, and other MAC entities (e.g. SN MAC 1119) for a secondary base station. In multi-connectivity, a configured set of serving cells for a wireless device may comprise two subsets: an MCG comprising serving cells of a master base station, and SCGs comprising serving cells of a secondary base station. For an SCG, one or more of following configurations may be applied: at least one cell of an SCG has a configured UL CC and at least one cell of a SCG, named as primary secondary cell (PSCell, PCell of SCG, or sometimes called PCell), is configured with PUCCH resources; when an SCG is configured, there may be at least one SCG bearer or one Split bearer; upon detection of a physical layer problem or a random access problem on a PSCell, or a number of NR RLC retransmissions has been reached associated with the SCG, or upon detection of an access problem on a PSCell during a SCG addition or a SCG change: an RRC connection re-establishment procedure may not be triggered, UL transmissions towards cells of an SCG may be stopped, a master base station may be informed by a wireless device of a SCG failure type, for split bearer, a DL data transfer over a master base station may be maintained; an NR RLC acknowledged mode (AM) bearer may be configured for a split bearer; PCell and/or PSCell may not be de-activated; PSCell may be changed with a SCG change procedure (e.g. with security key change and a RACH procedure); and/or a bearer type change between a split bearer and a SCG bearer or simultaneous configuration of a SCG and a split bearer may or may not supported.

With respect to interaction between a master base station and a secondary base stations for multi-connectivity, one or more of the following may be applied: a master base station and/or a secondary base station may maintain RRM measurement configurations of a wireless device; a master base station may (e.g. based on received measurement reports, traffic conditions, and/or bearer types) may decide to request a secondary base station to provide additional resources (e.g. serving cells) for a wireless device; upon receiving a request from a master base station, a secondary base station may create/modify a container that may result in configuration of additional serving cells for a wireless device (or decide that the secondary base station has no resource available to do so); for a UE capability coordination, a master base station may provide (a part of) an AS configuration and UE capabilities to a secondary base station; a master base station and a secondary base station may exchange information about a UE configuration by employing of RRC containers (inter-node messages) carried via Xn messages; a secondary base station may initiate a reconfiguration of the secondary base station existing serving cells (e.g. PUCCH towards the secondary base station); a secondary base station may decide which cell is a PSCell within a SCG; a master base station may or may not change content of RRC configurations provided by a secondary base station; in case of a SCG addition and/or a SCG SCell addition, a master base station may provide recent (or the latest) measurement results for SCG cell(s); a master base station and secondary base stations may receive information of SFN and/or subframe offset of each other from OAM and/or via an Xn interface, (e.g. for a purpose of DRX alignment and/or identification of a measurement gap). In an example, when adding a new SCG SCell, dedicated RRC signaling may be used for sending required system information of a cell as for CA, except for a SFN acquired from a MIB of a PSCell of a SCG.

FIG. 12 is an example diagram of a random access procedure. One or more events may trigger a random access procedure. For example, one or more events may be at least one of following: initial access from RRC_IDLE, RRC connection re-establishment procedure, handover, DL or UL data arrival during RRC_CONNECTED when UL synchronization status is non-synchronised, transition from RRC_Inactive, and/or request for other system information. For example, a PDCCH order, a MAC entity, and/or a beam failure indication may initiate a random access procedure.

In an example embodiment, a random access procedure may be at least one of a contention based random access procedure and a contention free random access procedure. For example, a contention based random access procedure may comprise, one or more Msg 1 1220 transmissions, one or more Msg2 1230 transmissions, one or more Msg3 1240 transmissions, and contention resolution 1250. For example, a contention free random access procedure may comprise one or more Msg 1 1220 transmissions and one or more Msg2 1230 transmissions.

In an example, a base station may transmit (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast), to a UE, a RACH configuration 1210 via one or more beams. The RACH configuration 1210 may comprise one or more parameters indicating at least one of following: available set of PRACH resources for a transmission of a random access preamble, initial preamble power (e.g., random access preamble initial received target power), an RSRP threshold for a selection of a SS block and corresponding PRACH resource, a power-ramping factor (e.g., random access preamble power ramping step), random access preamble index, a maximum number of preamble transmission, preamble group A and group B, a threshold (e.g., message size) to determine the groups of random access preambles, a set of one or more random access preambles for system information request and corresponding PRACH resource(s), if any, a set of one or more random access preambles for beam failure recovery request and corresponding PRACH resource(s), if any, a time window to monitor RA response(s), a time window to monitor response(s) on beam failure recovery request, and/or a contention resolution timer.

In an example, the Msg1 1220 may be one or more transmissions of a random access preamble. For a contention based random access procedure, a UE may select a SS block with a RSRP above the RSRP threshold. If random access preambles group B exists, a UE may select one or more random access preambles from a group A or a group B depending on a potential Msg3 1240 size. If a random access preambles group B does not exist, a UE may select the one or more random access preambles from a group A. A UE may select a random access preamble index randomly (e.g. with equal probability or a normal distribution) from one or more random access preambles associated with a selected group. If a base station semi-statistically configures a UE with an association between random access preambles and SS blocks, the UE may select a random access preamble index randomly with equal probability from one or more random access preambles associated with a selected SS block and a selected group.

For example, a UE may initiate a contention free random access procedure based on a beam failure indication from a lower layer. For example, a base station may semi-statistically configure a UE with one or more contention free PRACH resources for beam failure recovery request associated with at least one of SS blocks and/or CSI-RSs. If at least one of SS blocks with a RSRP above a first RSRP threshold amongst associated SS blocks or at least one of CSI-RSs with a RSRP above a second RSRP threshold amongst associated CSI-RSs is available, a UE may select a random access preamble index corresponding to a selected SS block or CSI-RS from a set of one or more random access preambles for beam failure recovery request.

For example, a UE may receive, from a base station, a random access preamble index via PDCCH or RRC for a contention free random access procedure. If a base station does not configure a UE with at least one contention free PRACH resource associated with SS blocks or CSI-RS, the UE may select a random access preamble index. If a base station configures a UE with one or more contention free PRACH resources associated with SS blocks and at least one SS block with a RSRP above a first RSRP threshold amongst associated SS blocks is available, the UE may select the at least one SS block and select a random access preamble corresponding to the at least one SS block. If a base station configures a UE with one or more contention free PRACH resources associated with CSI-RSs and at least one CSI-RS with a RSRP above a second RSPR threshold amongst the associated CSI-RSs is available, the UE may select the at least one CSI-RS and select a random access preamble corresponding to the at least one CSI-RS.

A UE may perform one or more Msg1 1220 transmissions by transmitting the selected random access preamble. For example, if a UE selects an SS block and is configured with an association between one or more PRACH occasions and one or more SS blocks, the UE may determine an PRACH occasion from one or more PRACH occasions corresponding to a selected SS block. For example, if a UE selects a CSI-RS and is configured with an association between one or more PRACH occasions and one or more CSI-RSs, the UE may determine a PRACH occasion from one or more PRACH occasions corresponding to a selected CSI-RS. A UE may transmit, to a base station, a selected random access preamble via a selected PRACH occasions. A UE may determine a transmit power for a transmission of a selected random access preamble at least based on an initial preamble power and a power-ramping factor. A UE may determine a RA-RNTI associated with a selected PRACH occasions in which a selected random access preamble is transmitted. For example, a UE may not determine a RA-RNTI for a beam failure recovery request. A UE may determine an RA-RNTI at least based on an index of a first OFDM symbol and an index of a first slot of a selected PRACH occasions, and/or an uplink carrier index for a transmission of Msg1 1220.

In an example, a UE may receive, from a base station, a random access response, Msg 2 1230. A UE may start a time window (e.g., ra-Response Window) to monitor a random access response. For beam failure recovery request, a base station may configure a UE with a different time window (e.g., bfr-Response Window) to monitor response on beam failure recovery request. For example, a UE may start a time window (e.g., ra-ResponseWindow or bfr-Response Window) at a start of a first PDCCH occasion after a fixed duration of one or more symbols from an end of a preamble transmission. If a UE transmits multiple preambles, the UE may start a time window at a start of a first PDCCH occasion after a fixed duration of one or more symbols from an end of a first preamble transmission. A UE may monitor a PDCCH of a cell for at least one random access response identified by a RA-RNTI or for at least one response to beam failure recovery request identified by a C-RNTI while a timer for a time window is running.

In an example, a UE may consider a reception of random access response successful if at least one random access response comprises a random access preamble identifier corresponding to a random access preamble transmitted by the UE. A UE may consider the contention free random access procedure successfully completed if a reception of random access response is successful. If a contention free random access procedure is triggered for a beam failure recovery request, a UE may consider a contention free random access procedure successfully complete if a PDCCH transmission is addressed to a C-RNTI. In an example, if at least one random access response comprises a random access preamble identifier, a UE may consider the random access procedure successfully completed and may indicate a reception of an acknowledgement for a system information request to upper layers. If a UE has signaled multiple preamble transmissions, the UE may stop transmitting remaining preambles (if any) in response to a successful reception of a corresponding random access response.

In an example, a UE may perform one or more Msg 3 1240 transmissions in response to a successful reception of random access response (e.g., for a contention based random access procedure). A UE may adjust an uplink transmission timing based on a timing advanced command indicated by a random access response and may transmit one or more transport blocks based on an uplink grant indicated by a random access response. Subcarrier spacing for PUSCH transmission for Msg3 1240 may be provided by at least one higher layer (e.g. RRC) parameter. A UE may transmit a random access preamble via PRACH and Msg3 1240 via PUSCH on a same cell. A base station may indicate an UL BWP for a PUSCH transmission of Msg3 1240 via system information block. A UE may employ HARQ for a retransmission of Msg 3 1240.

In an example, multiple UEs may perform Msg 1 1220 by transmitting a same preamble to a base station and receive, from the base station, a same random access response comprising an identity (e.g., TC-RNTI). Contention resolution 1250 may ensure that a UE does not incorrectly use an identity of another UE. For example, contention resolution 1250 may be based on C-RNTI on PDCCH or a UE contention resolution identity on DL-SCH. For example, if a base station assigns a C-RNTI to a UE, the UE may perform contention resolution 1250 based on a reception of a PDCCH transmission that is addressed to the C-RNTI. In response to detection of a C-RNTI on a PDCCH, a UE may consider contention resolution 1250 successful and may consider a random access procedure successfully completed. If a UE has no valid C-RNTI, a contention resolution may be addressed by employing a TC-RNTI. For example, if a MAC PDU is successfully decoded and a MAC PDU comprises a UE contention resolution identity MAC CE that matches the CCCH SDU transmitted in Msg3 1250, a UE may consider the contention resolution 1250 successful and may consider the random access procedure successfully completed.

FIG. 13 is an example structure for MAC entities as per an aspect of an embodiment. In an example, a wireless device may be configured to operate in a multi-connectivity mode. A wireless device in RRC_CONNECTED with multiple RX/TX may be configured to utilize radio resources provided by multiple schedulers located in a plurality of base stations. The plurality of base stations may be connected via a non-ideal or ideal backhaul over the Xn interface. In an example, a base station in a plurality of base stations may act as a master base station or as a secondary base station. A wireless device may be connected to one master base station and one or more secondary base stations. A wireless device may be configured with multiple MAC entities, e.g. one MAC entity for master base station, and one or more other MAC entities for secondary base station(s). In an example, a configured set of serving cells for a wireless device may comprise two subsets: an MCG comprising serving cells of a master base station, and one or more SCGs comprising serving cells of a secondary base station(s). FIG. 13 illustrates an example structure for MAC entities when MCG and SCG are configured for a wireless device.

In an example, at least one cell in a SCG may have a configured UL CC, wherein a cell of at least one cell may be called PSCell or PCell of SCG, or sometimes may be simply called PCell. A PSCell may be configured with PUCCH resources. In an example, when a SCG is configured, there may be at least one SCG bearer or one split bearer. In an example, upon detection of a physical layer problem or a random access problem on a PSCell, or upon reaching a number of RLC retransmissions associated with the SCG, or upon detection of an access problem on a PSCell during a SCG addition or a SCG change: an RRC connection re-establishment procedure may not be triggered, UL transmissions towards cells of an SCG may be stopped, a master base station may be informed by a UE of a SCG failure type and DL data transfer over a master base station may be maintained.

In an example, a MAC sublayer may provide services such as data transfer and radio resource allocation to upper layers (e.g. 1310 or 1320). A MAC sublayer may comprise a plurality of MAC entities (e.g. 1350 and 1360). A MAC sublayer may provide data transfer services on logical channels. To accommodate different kinds of data transfer services, multiple types of logical channels may be defined. A logical channel may support transfer of a particular type of information. A logical channel type may be defined by what type of information (e.g., control or data) is transferred. For example, BCCH, PCCH, CCCH and DCCH may be control channels and DTCH may be a traffic channel. In an example, a first MAC entity (e.g. 1310) may provide services on PCCH, BCCH, CCCH, DCCH, DTCH and MAC control elements. In an example, a second MAC entity (e.g. 1320) may provide services on BCCH, DCCH, DTCH and MAC control elements.

A MAC sublayer may expect from a physical layer (e.g. 1330 or 1340) services such as data transfer services, signaling of HARQ feedback, signaling of scheduling request or measurements (e.g. CQI). In an example, in dual connectivity, two MAC entities may be configured for a wireless device: one for MCG and one for SCG. A MAC entity of wireless device may handle a plurality of transport channels. In an example, a first MAC entity may handle first transport channels comprising a PCCH of MCG, a first BCH of MCG, one or more first DL-SCHs of MCG, one or more first UL-SCHs of MCG and one or more first RACHs of MCG. In an example, a second MAC entity may handle second transport channels comprising a second BCH of SCG, one or more second DL-SCHs of SCG, one or more second UL-SCHs of SCG and one or more second RACHs of SCG.

In an example, if a MAC entity is configured with one or more SCells, there may be multiple DL-SCHs and there may be multiple UL-SCHs as well as multiple RACHs per MAC entity. In an example, there may be one DL-SCH and UL-SCH on a SpCell. In an example, there may be one DL-SCH, zero or one UL-SCH and zero or one RACH for an SCell. A DL-SCH may support receptions using different numerologies and/or TTI duration within a MAC entity. A UL-SCH may also support transmissions using different numerologies and/or TTI duration within the MAC entity.

In an example, a MAC sublayer may support different functions and may control these functions with a control (e.g. 1355 or 1365) element. Functions performed by a MAC entity may comprise mapping between logical channels and transport channels (e.g., in uplink or downlink), multiplexing (e.g. 1352 or 1362) of MAC SDUs from one or different logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to the physical layer on transport channels (e.g., in uplink), demultiplexing (e.g. 1352 or 1362) of MAC SDUs to one or different logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the physical layer on transport channels (e.g., in downlink), scheduling information reporting (e.g., in uplink), error correction through HARQ in uplink or downlink (e.g. 1363), and logical channel prioritization in uplink (e.g. 1351 or 1361). A MAC entity may handle a random access process (e.g. 1354 or 1364).

FIG. 14 is an example diagram of a RAN architecture comprising one or more base stations. In an example, a protocol stack (e.g. RRC, SDAP, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and PHY) may be supported at a node. A base station (e.g. gNB 120A or 120B) may comprise a base station central unit (CU) (e.g. gNB-CU 1420A or 1420B) and at least one base station distributed unit (DU) (e.g. gNB-DU 1430A, 1430B, 1430C, or 1430D) if a functional split is configured. Upper protocol layers of a base station may be located in a base station CU, and lower layers of the base station may be located in the base station DUs. An F1 interface (e.g. CU-DU interface) connecting a base station CU and base station DUs may be an ideal or non-ideal backhaul. F1-C may provide a control plane connection over an F1 interface, and F1-U may provide a user plane connection over the F1 interface. In an example, an Xn interface may be configured between base station CUs.

In an example, a base station CU may comprise an RRC function, an SDAP layer, and a PDCP layer, and base station DUs may comprise an RLC layer, a MAC layer, and a PHY layer. In an example, various functional split options between a base station CU and base station DUs may be possible by locating different combinations of upper protocol layers (RAN functions) in a base station CU and different combinations of lower protocol layers (RAN functions) in base station DUs. A functional split may support flexibility to move protocol layers between a base station CU and base station DUs depending on service requirements and/or network environments.

In an example, functional split options may be configured per base station, per base station CU, per base station DU, per UE, per bearer, per slice, or with other granularities. In per base station CU split, a base station CU may have a fixed split option, and base station DUs may be configured to match a split option of a base station CU. In per base station DU split, a base station DU may be configured with a different split option, and a base station CU may provide different split options for different base station DUs. In per UE split, a base station (base station CU and at least one base station DUs) may provide different split options for different wireless devices. In per bearer split, different split options may be utilized for different bearers. In per slice splice, different split options may be applied for different slices.

FIG. 15 is an example diagram showing RRC state transitions of a wireless device. In an example, a wireless device may be in at least one RRC state among an RRC connected state (e.g. RRC_Connected 1530, RRC_Connected), an RRC idle state (e.g. RRC_Idle 1510, RRC_Idle), and/or an RRC inactive state (e.g. RRC_Inactive 1520, RRC_Inactive). In an example, in an RRC connected state, a wireless device may have at least one RRC connection with at least one base station (e.g. gNB and/or eNB), which may have a UE context of the wireless device. A UE context (e.g. a wireless device context) may comprise at least one of an access stratum context, one or more radio link configuration parameters, bearer (e.g. data radio bearer (DRB), signaling radio bearer (SRB), logical channel, QoS flow, PDU session, and/or the like) configuration information, security information, PHY/MAC/RLC/PDCP/SDAP layer configuration information, and/or the like configuration information for a wireless device. In an example, in an RRC idle state, a wireless device may not have an RRC connection with a base station, and a UE context of a wireless device may not be stored in a base station. In an example, in an RRC inactive state, a wireless device may not have an RRC connection with a base station. A UE context of a wireless device may be stored in a base station, which may be called as an anchor base station (e.g. last serving base station).

In an example, a wireless device may transition a UE RRC state between an RRC idle state and an RRC connected state in both ways (e.g. connection release 1540 or connection establishment 1550; or connection reestablishment) and/or between an RRC inactive state and an RRC connected state in both ways (e.g. connection inactivation 1570 or connection resume 1580). In an example, a wireless device may transition its RRC state from an RRC inactive state to an RRC idle state (e.g. connection release 1560).

In an example, an anchor base station may be a base station that may keep a UE context (a wireless device context) of a wireless device at least during a time period that a wireless device stays in a RAN notification area (RNA) of an anchor base station, and/or that a wireless device stays in an RRC inactive state. In an example, an anchor base station may be a base station that a wireless device in an RRC inactive state was lastly connected to in a latest RRC connected state or that a wireless device lastly performed an RNA update procedure in. In an example, an RNA may comprise one or more cells operated by one or more base stations. In an example, a base station may belong to one or more RNAs. In an example, a cell may belong to one or more RNAs.

In an example, a wireless device may transition a UE RRC state from an RRC connected state to an RRC inactive state in a base station. A wireless device may receive RNA information from the base station. RNA information may comprise at least one of an RNA identifier, one or more cell identifiers of one or more cells of an RNA, a base station identifier, an IP address of the base station, an AS context identifier of the wireless device, a resume identifier, and/or the like.

In an example, an anchor base station may broadcast a message (e.g. RAN paging message) to base stations of an RNA to reach to a wireless device in an RRC inactive state, and/or the base stations receiving the message from the anchor base station may broadcast and/or multicast another message (e.g. paging message) to wireless devices in their coverage area, cell coverage area, and/or beam coverage area associated with the RNA through an air interface.

In an example, when a wireless device in an RRC inactive state moves into a new RNA, the wireless device may perform an RNA update (RNAU) procedure, which may comprise a random access procedure by the wireless device and/or a UE context retrieve procedure. A UE context retrieve may comprise: receiving, by a base station from a wireless device, a random access preamble; and fetching, by a base station, a UE context of the wireless device from an old anchor base station. Fetching may comprise: sending a retrieve UE context request message comprising a resume identifier to the old anchor base station and receiving a retrieve UE context response message comprising the UE context of the wireless device from the old anchor base station.

In an example embodiment, a wireless device in an RRC inactive state may select a cell to camp on based on at least a on measurement results for one or more cells, a cell where a wireless device may monitor an RNA paging message and/or a core network paging message from a base station. In an example, a wireless device in an RRC inactive state may select a cell to perform a random access procedure to resume an RRC connection and/or to transmit one or more packets to a base station (e.g. to a network). In an example, if a cell selected belongs to a different RNA from an RNA for a wireless device in an RRC inactive state, the wireless device may initiate a random access procedure to perform an RNA update procedure. In an example, if a wireless device in an RRC inactive state has one or more packets, in a buffer, to transmit to a network, the wireless device may initiate a random access procedure to transmit one or more packets to a base station of a cell that the wireless device selects. A random access procedure may be performed with two messages (e.g. 2 stage random access) and/or four messages (e.g. 4 stage random access) between the wireless device and the base station.

In an example embodiment, a base station receiving one or more uplink packets from a wireless device in an RRC inactive state may fetch a UE context of a wireless device by transmitting a retrieve UE context request message for the wireless device to an anchor base station of the wireless device based on at least one of an AS context identifier, an RNA identifier, a base station identifier, a resume identifier, and/or a cell identifier received from the wireless device. In response to fetching a UE context, a base station may transmit a path switch request for a wireless device to a core network entity (e.g. AMF, MME, and/or the like). A core network entity may update a downlink tunnel endpoint identifier for one or more bearers established for the wireless device between a user plane core network entity (e.g. UPF, S-GW, and/or the like) and a RAN node (e.g. the base station), e.g. changing a downlink tunnel endpoint identifier from an address of the anchor base station to an address of the base station.

A gNB may communicate with a wireless device via a wireless network employing one or more new radio technologies. The one or more radio technologies may comprise at least one of: multiple technologies related to physical layer; multiple technologies related to medium access control layer; and/or multiple technologies related to radio resource control layer. Example embodiments of enhancing the one or more radio technologies may improve performance of a wireless network. Example embodiments may increase the system throughput, or data rate of transmission. Example embodiments may reduce battery consumption of a wireless device. Example embodiments may improve latency of data transmission between a gNB and a wireless device. Example embodiments may improve network coverage of a wireless network. Example embodiments may improve transmission efficiency of a wireless network.

Example Downlink Control Information (DCI)

In an example, a gNB may transmit a DCI via a PDCCH for at least one of: scheduling assignment/grant; slot format notification; pre-emption indication; and/or power-control commends. More specifically, the DCI may comprise at least one of: identifier of a DCI format; downlink scheduling assignment(s); uplink scheduling grant(s); slot format indicator; pre-emption indication; power-control for PUCCH/PUSCH; and/or power-control for SRS.

In an example, a downlink scheduling assignment DCI may comprise parameters indicating at least one of: identifier of a DCI format; PDSCH resource indication; transport format; HARQ information; control information related to multiple antenna schemes; and/or a command for power control of the PUCCH.

In an example, an uplink scheduling grant DCI may comprise parameters indicating at least one of: identifier of a DCI format; PUSCH resource indication; transport format; HARQ related information; and/or a power control command of the PUSCH.

In an example, different types of control information may correspond to different DCI message sizes. For example, supporting multiple beams and/or spatial multiplexing in the spatial domain and noncontiguous allocation of RBs in the frequency domain may require a larger scheduling message, in comparison with an uplink grant allowing for frequency-contiguous allocation. DCI may be categorized into different DCI formats, where a format corresponds to a certain message size and/or usage.

In an example, a wireless device may monitor one or more PDCCH for detecting one or more DCI with one or more DCI format, in common search space or wireless device-specific search space. In an example, a wireless device may monitor PDCCH with a limited set of DCI format, to save power consumption. The more DCI format to be detected, the more power be consumed at the wireless device.

In an example, the information in the DCI formats for downlink scheduling may comprise at least one of: identifier of a DCI format; carrier indicator; RB allocation; time resource allocation; bandwidth part indicator; HARQ process number; one or more MCS; one or more NDI; one or more RV; MIMO related information; Downlink assignment index (DAI); TPC for PUCCH; SRS request; and padding if necessary. In an example, the MIMO related information may comprise at least one of: PMI; precoding information; transport block swap flag; power offset between PDSCH and reference signal; reference-signal scrambling sequence; number of layers; and/or antenna ports for the transmission; and/or Transmission Configuration Indication (TCI).

In an example, the information in the DCI formats used for uplink scheduling may comprise at least one of: an identifier of a DCI format; carrier indicator; bandwidth part indication; resource allocation type; RB allocation; time resource allocation; MCS; NDI; Phase rotation of the uplink DMRS; precoding information; CSI request; SRS request; Uplink index/DAI; TPC for PUSCH; and/or padding if necessary.

In an example, a gNB may perform CRC scrambling for a DCI, before transmitting the DCI via a PDCCH. The gNB may perform CRC scrambling by binarily adding multiple bits of at least one wireless device identifier (e.g., C-RNTI, CS-RNTI, TPC-CS-RNTI, TPC-PUCCH-RNTI, TPC-PUSCH-RNTI, SP CSI C-RNTI, or TPC-SRS-RNTI) on the CRC bits of the DCI. The wireless device may check the CRC bits of the DCI, when detecting the DCI. The wireless device may receive the DCI when the CRC is scrambled by a sequence of bits that is the same as the at least one wireless device identifier.

In an example, in order to support wide bandwidth operation, a gNB may transmit one or more PDCCH in different control resource sets (coresets). A gNB may transmit one or more RRC message comprising configuration parameters of one or more coresets. A coreset may comprise at least one of: a first OFDM symbol; a number of consecutive OFDM symbols; a set of resource blocks; a CCE-to-REG mapping. In an example, a gNB may transmit a PDCCH in a dedicated coreset for particular purpose, for example, for beam failure recovery confirmation.

In an example, a wireless device may monitor PDCCH for detecting DCI in one or more configured coresets, to reduce the power consumption.

RLF Detection and Handling

A higher layer (e.g., RRC) of a wireless device may detect RLF based on one of: i) physical layer problems based on a first timer and/or a counter mechanism, ii) a random-access problem indication from a media access control (MAC) layer in response to reaching to a number of maximum RACH preamble transmission, and/or iii) indication from a radio link control (RLC) layer in response to reaching to a maximum number of retransmission. An RLF detection may comprise two phases as shown in FIG. 16. A first phase may start in response to a radio problem indicated by a lower layer (e.g., physical layer, medium access layer). A wireless device may be in an RRC_CONNECTED mode during the first phase.

In an example, when a radio problem is not recovered during a first phase, a wireless device may detect an RLF. A first timer may start in response to an indication of one or more radio problems from the lower layer (e.g. physical layer, MAC layer) to the higher layer (e.g. RRC). When the one or more radio problems are recovered before the expiry of the first timer, the wireless device may stop the first timer.

A second phase may start in response to detecting, by a wireless device, an RLF and/or a handover failure. The wireless device may stay in an RRC_CONNECTED mode while the second timer is running. The wireless device may select a cell in the second phase. In response to selecting the cell, the wireless device may initiate an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. When the wireless device fails to select the cell before the expiry of the second timer, the wireless device may enter from the RRC_CONNECTED mode to an RRC_IDLE mode. In response to a successful RRC connection procedure (e.g. re-establishment), the wireless device may indicate an availability of a stored RLF report to a base station. The wireless device may report the stored RLF report to the base station upon a request from the base station.

FIG. 17 is an example of an RLF detection based on a physical layer problem. The RLF detection may be important in order to initiate a radio link recovery procedure in a timely manner. An RLF detection may comprise performing downlink signal measurements by a physical layer of a wireless device. In an example, the wireless device may monitor quality (e.g. BLER) of DL based on one or more reference signals (RSs) (e.g. CRS, CSI-RS, SS blocks). The wireless device may compare the quality of the DL against a first threshold (e.g. Q_(OUT)) and a second threshold (e.g. Q_(IN)). In response to the comparing the quality of the DL, the physical layer of the wireless device may report out-of-sync (OOS) or in-sync (IS) indications to an RRC layer of the wireless device. In an example, the physical layer of the wireless device may report an OOS indication when the quality of DL (e.g. BLER) is worse than the first threshold (e.g. Q_(OUT) may be 10%). In an example, the physical layer of the wireless device may report an IS indication when the quality of DL (e.g. BLER) is better than the second threshold (e.g. Q_(IN) may be 2%). When a first number of consecutive periodic OOS indications is equal to a first counter (e.g. N₃₁₀), the RRC layer may start a first timer (e.g. T₃₁₀). The first counter and/or the first timer may be configured in a RRC message.

In an example, a physical layer problem may be recovered when an RRC layer receives a second number of consecutive periodic IS indications from the physical layer, being equal to a second counter (e.g. N₃₁₁), while the first timer (e.g. T₃₁₀) is running. In response to receiving the second number of consecutive IS indications, the RRC layer may stop the first timer. In an example, the RRC layer may not receive the second number of consecutive IS indications from the physical layer (e.g. N₃₁₁) until an expiry of the first timer (e.g. T₃₁₀). In response to the expiry of the first timer, the wireless device may detect an RLF.

Example of a BFRQ procedure.

A gNB and/or a wireless device may have multiple antennas, to support a transmission with high data rate in a NR system. When configured with multiple antennas, a wireless device may perform one or more beam management procedures, as shown in FIG. 9B.

A wireless device may perform a downlink beam management based on one or more CSI-RSs, and/or one or more SS blocks. In a beam management procedure, a wireless device may measure a channel quality of a beam pair link. The beam pair link may comprise a transmitting beam from a gNB and a receiving beam at the wireless device. When configured with multiple beams associated with multiple CSI-RSs or SS blocks, a wireless device may measure the multiple beam pair links between the gNB and the wireless device.

In an example, a wireless device may transmit one or more beam management reports to a gNB. In a beam management report, the wireless device may indicate one or more beam pair quality parameters, comprising at least, one or more beam identifications; RSRP; PMI/CQI/RI of at least a subset of configured multiple beams.

In an example, a gNB and/or a wireless device may perform a downlink beam management procedure on one or multiple Transmission and Receiving Point (TRPs), as shown in FIG. 9B. Based on a wireless device's beam management report, a gNB may transmit to the wireless device a signal indicating that a new beam pair link is a serving beam. The gNB may transmit PDCCH and PDSCH to the wireless device using the serving beam.

In an example, a wireless device or a gNB may trigger a beam failure recovery mechanism. A wireless device may trigger a beam failure recovery request (BFRQ) procedure, e.g., when at least a beam failure occurs. In an example, a beam failure may occur when quality of beam pair link(s) of at least one PDCCH falls below a threshold. The threshold may be a RSRP value (e.g., −140 dbm, −110 dbm) or a SINR value (e.g., −3 dB, −1 dB), which may be configured in a RRC message.

FIG. 18A shows example of a first beam failure scenario. In the example, a gNB may transmit a PDCCH from a transmission (Tx) beam to a receiving (Rx) beam of a wireless device from a TRP. When the PDCCH on the beam pair link (between the Tx beam of the gNB and the Rx beam of the wireless device) have a lower-than-threshold RSRP/SINR value due to the beam pair link being blocked (e.g., by a moving car or a building), the gNB and the wireless device may start a beam failure recovery procedure on the TRP.

FIG. 18B shows example of a second beam failure scenario. In the example, the gNB may transmit a PDCCH from a beam to a wireless device from a first TRP. When the PDCCH on the beam is blocked, the gNB and the wireless device may start a beam failure recovery procedure on a new beam on a second TRP.

In an example, a wireless device may measure quality of beam pair link using one or more RSs. The one or more RSs may be one or more SS blocks, or one or more CSI-RS resources. A CSI-RS resource may be identified by a CSI-RS resource index (CRI). In an example, quality of beam pair link may be defined as a RSRP value, or a reference signal received quality (e.g. RSRQ) value, and/or a CSI (e.g., SINR) value measured on RS resources. In an example, a gNB may indicate whether an RS resource, used for measuring beam pair link quality, is QCLed (Quasi-Co-Located) with DM-RSs of a PDCCH. The RS resource and the DM-RSs of the PDCCH may be called QCLed when the channel characteristics from a transmission on an RS to a wireless device, and that from a transmission on a PDCCH to the wireless device, are similar or same under a configured criterion. In an example, The RS resource and the DM-RSs of the PDCCH may be called QCLed when doppler shift and/or doppler shift of the channel from a transmission on an RS to a wireless device, and that from a transmission on a PDCCH to the wireless device, are same.

In an example, a wireless device may monitor PDCCH on M beam (e.g. 2, 4, 8) pair links simultaneously, where M≥1 and the value of M may depend at least on capability of the wireless device. In an example, monitoring a PDCCH may comprise detecting a DCI via the PDCCH transmitted on common search spaces and/or wireless device specific search spaces. In an example, monitoring multiple beam pair links may increase robustness against beam pair link blocking. In an example, a gNB may transmit one or more messages comprising parameters indicating a wireless device to monitor PDCCH on different beam pair link(s) in different OFDM symbols.

In an example, a gNB may transmit one or more RRC messages or MAC CEs comprising parameters indicating Rx beam setting of a wireless device for monitoring PDCCH on multiple beam pair links. A gNB may transmit an indication of spatial QCL between an DL RS antenna port(s) and DL RS antenna port(s) for demodulation of DL control channel. In an example, the indication may be a parameter in a MAC CE, or a RRC message, or a DCI, and/or combination of these signaling.

In an example, for reception of data packet on a PDSCH, a gNB may indicate spatial QCL parameters between DL RS antenna port(s) and DM-RS antenna port(s) of DL data channel. A gNB may transmit DCI comprising parameters indicating the RS antenna port(s) QCLed with DM-RS antenna port(s).

In an example, when a gNB transmits a signal indicating QCL parameters between CSI-RS and DM-RS for PDCCH, a wireless device may measure a beam pair link quality based on CSI-RSs QCLed with DM-RS for PDCCH. In an example, when multiple contiguous beam failures occur, the wireless device may start a BFRQ procedure.

In an example, a wireless device transmits a BFRQ signal on an uplink physical channel to a gNB when starting a BFRQ procedure. The gNB may transmit a DCI via a PDCCH in a coreset in response to receiving the BFRQ signal on the uplink physical channel. The wireless may consider the BFRQ procedure successfully completed when receiving the DCI via the PDCCH in the coreset.

In an example, a gNB may transmit one or more messages comprising configuration parameters of an uplink physical channel or signal for transmitting a beam failure recovery request. The uplink physical channel or signal may be based on one of: a contention-free PRACH (BFR-PRACH), which may be a resource orthogonal to resources of other PRACH transmissions; a PUCCH (BFR-PUCCH); and/or a contention-based PRACH resource (CF-PRACH). Combinations of these candidate signal/channels may be configured by the gNB. In an example, when configured with multiple resources for a BFRQ signal, a wireless device may autonomously select a first resource for transmitting the BFRQ signal. In an example, when configured with a BFR-PRACH resource, a BFR-PUCCH resource, and a CF-PRACH resource, the wireless device may select the BFR-PRACH resource for transmitting the BFRQ signal. In an example, when configured with a BFR-PRACH resource, a BFR-PUCCH resource, and a CF-PRACH resource, the gNB may transmit a message to the wireless device indicating a resource for transmitting the BFRQ signal.

In an example, a gNB may transmit a response to a wireless device after receiving one or more BFRQ signals. The response may comprise the CRI associated with the candidate beam the wireless device indicates in the one or multiple BFRQ signals.

In an NR system, when configured with multiple beams, a gNB and/or a wireless device may perform one or more beam management procedure. For example, the wireless device may perform a BFRQ procedure, if one or more beam pair links between the gNB and the wireless device fail.

FIG. 19 shows example of the BFRQ procedure. A wireless device may receive one or more RRC messages comprising BFRQ parameters 1701. The wireless device may detect at least one beam failure 1702 according to at least one of BFRQ parameters. The wireless device may start a first timer in response to detecting the at least one beam failure. The wireless device may select a selected beam 1703 in response to detecting the at least one beam failure. The wireless device may transmit at least a first BFRQ signal 1704 to a gNB in response to the selecting the selected beam. The wireless device may start a response window in response to transmitting the at least first BFRQ signal. In an example, the response window may be a timer with a value configured by the gNB. When the response window is running, the wireless device may monitor a PDCCH in a first coreset 1705. The first coreset may be associated with the BFRQ procedure. In an example, the wireless device may monitor the PDCCH in the first coreset in condition of transmitting the at least first BFRQ signal. The wireless device may receive a first DCI via the PDCCH in the first coreset 1706 when the response window is running. The wireless device may consider the BFRQ procedure successfully completed 1707 when receiving the first DCI via the PDCCH in the first coreset before the response window expires. The wireless device may stop the first timer and/or stop the response window in response to the BFRQ procedure successfully being completed.

In an example, when the response window expires, and the wireless device does not receive the DCI, the wireless device may, before the first timer expires, perform one or more actions comprising at least one of: a BFRQ signal transmission; starting the response window; monitoring the PDCCH. In an example, the wireless device may repeat the one or more actions until the BFRQ procedure successfully is completed, or the first timer expires.

In an example, when the first timer expires, and the wireless device does not receive the DCI, the wireless device may declare (or indicate) a BFRQ procedure failure 1708. In an example, when a number of transmissions of BFRQ signals is greater than a configured number, a wireless device may declare (or indicate) a BFRQ procedure failure.

In an example, the wireless device may trigger a BFRQ procedure when a number of beam failure instances (e.g. contiguous) are detected. A beam failure instance may occur when quality of a beam pair link is lower than a configured threshold. For example, a beam failure instance may occur when the RSRP value or SINR value of a beam pair link is lower than a first threshold, or the BLER (block error rate) of the beam pair link is higher than a second threshold. Sporadic beam failure instance may not necessarily trigger a BFRQ procedure. Example embodiment provides methods and systems for triggering a BFRQ procedure in a NR system.

In an example, a wireless device may receive from a base station, one or more RRC messages comprising one or more configuration parameters of a BFRQ procedure. In an example, the one or more configuration parameters of the BFRQ procedure may comprise at least a first threshold for beam failure detection; at least a second threshold for selecting a beam(s); a first coreset associated with the BFRQ procedure. In an example, the first coreset may comprise multiple RBs in the frequency domain, at least a symbol in the time domain.

In an example, the first coreset may be associated with the BFRQ procedure. The wireless device may monitor at least a first PDCCH in the first coreset in response to transmitting a BFRQ signal indicating the beam failure. The wireless device may not monitor the first PDCCH in the first coreset in response to not transmitting the BFRQ signal. In an example, the gNB may not transmit a PDCCH in the first coreset if the gNB does not receive the BFRQ signal on an uplink resource. The gNB may transmit a PDCCH in a second coreset if the gNB does not receive the BFRQ signal. The second coreset, in which the wireless monitor a PDCCH before the BFRQ procedure is triggered, is different from the first coreset.

In an example, the one or more configuration parameters of the BFRQ procedure may indicate a first set of RSs for beam failure detection; and/or one or more PRACH resources associated with a second set of RSs (beams) for candidate beam selection. In an example, the one or more PRACH resources may comprise at least one of: one or more preambles; and/or one or more time/frequency resources. In an example, each RS of the second set of RSs may be associated with a preamble, a timer resource and/or a frequency resource of one of the one or more PRACH resources.

In an example, the one or more configuration parameters of the BFRQ procedure may indicate one or more PUCCH or scheduling request (SR) resources associated with a third set of RSs (beams). In an example, the one or more PUCCH or SR resource may comprise at least one of: time allocation; frequency allocation; cyclic shift; orthogonal cover code; and/or a spatial setting. In an example, each RS of the third set of RSs may be associated with each of the one or more PUCCH/SR resources.

In an example, the first set of RSs may be one or more first CSI-RSs or one or more first SS blocks. In an example, the second set of RSs may be one or more second CSI-RSs or one or more second SS blocks. In an example, the third set of RSs may be one or more third CSI-RSs or one or more third SS blocks. In an example, a BFRQ signal may be a PRACH preamble transmitted via a time/frequency resource of a PRACH resource. In an example, a BFRQ signal may be a PUCCH/SR transmitted on a PUCCH/SR resource.

In an example, the one or more configuration parameters of the BFRQ procedure may comprise at least a first number indicating a number of beam failure instances which may trigger the BFRQ procedure; a second value of a second timer indicating a duration after which the BFRQ procedure may be triggered; a third number indicating a number of BFRQ signal transmissions; a fourth value of a fourth timer indicating a duration during which the wireless device may receive a response from a gNB; a fifth value of a fifth timer indicating a duration after which the wireless device may declare (or indicate) a BFRQ procedure failure.

In an example, the physical layer of the wireless device may measure the first set of RSs. The physical layer may indicate one or more beam failure instance or one or more beam non-failure instance periodically to the MAC entity of the wireless device, based on the at least first threshold. In an example, the physical layer may indicate a beam failure instance when the measured quality (e.g., RSRP or SINR) of at least one of the first set of RSs is lower than the at least first threshold. In an example, the physical layer may indicate a beam non-failure instance when the measured quality (e.g., RSRP or SINR) of at least one of the first set of RSs is equal to or higher than the at least first threshold. In an example, the periodicity of the indication may be a value configured by the gNB or be same as the periodicity of transmission of the first set of RSs.

In an example, the MAC entity of the wireless device may set an instance counter (e.g., one) in response to receiving a first beam failure indication from the physical layer. In an example, when receiving a contiguous second beam failure indication, the MAC entity may increment the instance counter (e.g., by one). In an example, when receiving a third beam non-failure indication, the MAC entity may reset the instance counter (e.g., zero).

In an example, when receiving a first beam failure indication from the physical layer, the MAC entity may start the second timer associated with the second value. When receiving a second beam non-failure indication from the physical layer, the MAC entity may restart the second timer. When the second timer expires, and the instance counter indicates a value smaller than the first number, the MAC entity may not trigger the BFRQ procedure. In an example, the MAC entity may reset the instant counter (e.g., zero), when the second timer expires, and/or the instance counter indicates a value smaller than the first number. In an example, the MAC entity may reset the second timer, when the second timer expires, and/or the instance counter indicates a value smaller than the first number.

In an example, when the instance counter indicates a value equal to or greater than the first number, or the MAC entity receives the first number of contiguous beam failure indications from the physical layer, the MAC entity may trigger a BFRQ procedure.

In an example, when triggering the BFRQ procedure, the MAC entity may perform at least one of: resetting the instance counter (e.g., zero); resetting the second timer; and/or indicating to the physical layer to stop beam failure instance indication.

In an example, the MAC entity may ignore the periodic beam failure instance indication, when triggering the BFRQ procedure.

In an example, the MAC entity may start the fifth timer associated with the fifth value in response to triggering the BFRQ procedure. The MAC entity may request the physical layer to indicate at least a beam and/or the quality of the at least beam, in response to starting the fifth timer. In an example, the physical layer of the wireless device may measure at least one of the second set of RSs. The physical layer may select at least a beam based on the at least second threshold. In an example, the at least beam may be identified by a CSI-RS resource index, or a SS blocks index. In an example, the physical layer may select a beam when the measured quality (e.g., RSRP or SINR) of a RSs associated the beam is greater than the at least second threshold. In an example, the physical layer may not necessarily indicate the at least beam to the MAC entity periodically. In an example, the physical lay may indicate the at least beam to the MAC entity in response to receiving the request from the MAC entity.

In an example, the physical layer may indicate at least a beam to the MAC entity periodically when indicating a beam failure instance. In the example, the MAC entity may instruct the physical layer to transmit a BFRQ signal promptly, since the MAC entity may have the at least beam available when triggering a BFRQ procedure.

In an example, the MAC entity may select at least a BFRQ signal based on the at least beam and instruct the physical layer to transmit the at least BFRQ signal to a gNB during the fifth timer is running, in response to receiving the indication of the at least beam from the physical layer. In an example, the at least BFRQ signal may be a PRACH preamble associated with the at least beam. In an example, the at least BFRQ signal may be a PUCCH/SR signal associated with the at least beam.

In an example, the wireless device may start monitoring a PDCCH for receiving a DCI, at least in the first coreset, after a time period since transmitting the at least BFRQ signal. The time period may be a fixed period (e.g., four slots), or a configured value by a RRC message. The wireless device may start the fourth timer with a fourth value after the time period since transmitting the at least BFRQ signal. The wireless device may monitor the PDCCH in the first coreset during the fourth timer is running.

In an example, the wireless device may receive a DCI via the PDCCH at least in the first coreset during the fourth timer is running. The wireless device may consider the BFRQ procedure successfully completed in response to receiving the DCI via the PDCCH at least in the first coreset during the fourth timer is running. In an example, the wireless device may stop the fourth timer and/or stop the fifth timer, in response to the BFRQ procedure being successfully completed. In an example, the wireless device may keep monitoring the PDCCH in the first coreset until receiving an indication for QCL parameters of a second PDCCH in a second coreset, after the BFRQ procedure successfully is completed.

In an example, the wireless device may set a BFRQ transmission counter to a value (e.g., one) in response to the fourth timer expiring. In an example, in response to the fourth timer expiring, the wireless device may perform one or more actions comprising at least one of: transmitting the at least BFRQ signal; starting the fourth timer; and/or monitoring the PDCCH; incrementing the BFRQ transmission counter (e.g., by one) in response to the fourth timer expiring. The wireless device may repeat the one or more actions until the BFRQ procedure is successfully completed, or the fifth timer expires. In an example, the wireless device may declare (or indicate) the BFRQ procedure failure in response to the fifth timer expiring.

In a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure, there may be an aperiodic indication from a lower layer (e.g. physical layer) to a higher layer (e.g. RRC) of a wireless device. In an example, a first aperiodic indication may be triggered by a success of the BFR procedure. In an example, a second aperiodic indication may be triggered by a failure of the BFR procedure. Example embodiments handle the first aperiodic indication and/or the second aperiodic indication from the lower layer to the higher layer to assist an RLF handling procedure. Example embodiments provide processes for a wireless device and a base station to enhance a BFR procedure. Example embodiments may reduce a duration of the BFR procedure and may reduce battery power consumption.

A BFR procedure and an RLF handling procedure may have similarities. In an example, the BFR procedure and the RLF handling procedure may utilize at least a part of a same reference signal set to monitor downlink quality. The example embodiments may identify an interaction between the BFR procedure and the RLF handling procedure.

When a BFR procedure is successfully completed, a lower layer (e.g. physical layer) of a wireless device may send a first aperiodic indication to a higher layer (e.g. RRC) of the wireless device. The first aperiodic indication may be based on a success of the BFR procedure. In an example, in response to receiving the first aperiodic indication, the higher layer of the wireless device may stop a first timer (e.g. T₃₁₀), if running. The first aperiodic indication may prevent the wireless device from detecting an RLF due to an expiry of the first timer (e.g. T₃₁₀).

A wireless device may compare the quality of a downlink against a first threshold (e.g. Q_(OUT)) and a second threshold (e.g. Q_(IN)). In response to the comparison of the quality of the downlink, a lower layer of the wireless device may report a periodic out-of-synchronization indication or a periodic in-synchronization indication to a higher layer of the wireless device. A metric for the periodic in-synchronization indication and/or the periodic out-of-synchronization indication may be a hypothetical BLER. In a BFR procedure, a metric for a selection of a candidate RS may be L1-RSRP. The candidate RS with a downlink quality (e.g. L1-RSRP) higher than a threshold may have a hypothetical BLER higher than the second threshold, which may trigger a periodic out-of-synchronization indication, since the periodic out-of-synchronization indication is based on long term measurement results. In response to completing the BFR procedure successfully, the wireless device may send a first aperiodic indication to the higher layer. Although the lower layer of the wireless device indicates the first aperiodic indication, the lower layer may indicate a periodic out-of-synchronization to the higher layer.

Receiving the periodic out-of-synchronization at the higher layer may lead to a detection of an RLF, despite receiving the first aperiodic indication (e.g., successfully completing the BFR procedure). When the higher layer stops the first timer in response to receiving the first aperiodic indication and the wireless device is experiencing a beam failure on the candidate RS (i.e. generating periodic out-of-synchronization indications), it may take a long time until an RLF handling procedure based on a periodic out-of-synchronization indication starts. In this case, the wireless device may not be reachable for a long time. The wireless device may avoid an early stop of the first timer in response to receiving a first aperiodic indication.

In an example, when a BFR procedure is successfully completed while the first timer is running, a lower layer may start to generate periodic in-synchronization indications. Receiving a second number of consecutive in-synchronization indications (e.g. N₃₁₁) from a lower layer until an expiry of a first timer (e.g. T₃₁₀) may ensure that one or more links between a wireless device and a base station are stable. In an example, in response to receiving a first aperiodic indication and the second number of consecutive in-synchronization indications, the higher layer of the wireless device may stop the first timer.

In an example, a first aperiodic indication may be received at a time close to an expiry of the first timer. In this case, a higher layer may not receive a second number of consecutive in-synchronization indications (e.g. N₃₁₁) from a lower layer before an expiry of the first timer. The higher layer may declare RLF even though a BFR procedure is successfully completed. In an example, a wireless device may reset the first timer based on a first aperiodic indication. Resetting (or restarting) the first timer may allow the higher layer a duration of time to receive the second number of consecutive in-synchronization indications (e.g. N₃₁₁) from the lower layers. The second number may be configured by a base station.

When a BFR procedure is unsuccessfully completed, a lower layer of a wireless device may send a second aperiodic indication to a higher layer of the wireless device. The second aperiodic indication may be based on a failure of the BFR procedure. In response to receiving the second aperiodic indication, the higher layer of the wireless device may declare an RLF before an expiry of the first timer, if running. Declaring the RLF before the expiry of the first timer may limit UL interference and/or expedite the BFR procedure.

In an example, a wireless device may start a BFR procedure due to a fading dip (e.g. deep fading). Quality of downlink channels may improve during the BFR procedure. In an example, the one or more RSs of the beam pair link(s) between the wireless device and a base station may recover (e.g. from the fading dip). In an example, the wireless device may be blocked by an obstacle. When the obstacle is removed, the beam pair link(s) may recover. In this situation, the higher layer may not detect an RLF immediately in response to receiving the second aperiodic indication.

In legacy systems, when there is a physical layer problem, a higher layer of a wireless device may receive a first number of consecutive periodic out-of-synch indications from a physical layer of the wireless device. In response to the receiving the first number of consecutive periodic out-of-synch indications, the wireless device may start a radio link failure (RLF) timer, named as T310. When the RLF timer is running, if the higher layer receives a second number of consecutive periodic in-synch indications from the physical layer, the wireless device stops the RLF timer. Stopping the RLF timer may avoid declaring an RLF. The higher layer may not receive the second number of consecutive periodic in-synch indications until the RLF timer expires. Based on not receiving the second number of consecutive periodic in-synch indications, the wireless device may declare an RLF.

In an example, the physical layer may generate the first number of consecutive periodic out-of-synch indications due to a beam failure at the wireless device. When a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure for the beam failure at the wireless device is completed successfully or unsuccessfully, the physical layer may send an aperiodic indication of successful or unsuccessful completion of the BFR procedure to the higher layer.

In an example, a BFR procedure and an RLF procedure may use different metrics and/or thresholds to recover a beam failure and declare an RLF, respectively. Based on the BFR procedure and an RLF procedure using the different metrics and/or the thresholds, an aperiodic indication of a successful or an unsuccessful completion of the BFR procedure may not be a reliable indication for the RLF procedure. For example, in the BFR procedure, the wireless device may select a candidate beam based on a received signal power (e.g., L1-RSRP). In the RLF procedure, the wireless device may declare an RLF based on block error rate (BLER). Based on the BFR procedure and an RLF procedure using the different metrics and/or the thresholds, completing the BFR procedure successfully may not (necessarily) mean that the wireless device stops receiving periodic out-of-synch indications. In an example, the candidate beam may have a high received signal power (e.g., L1-RSRP). In an example, the candidate beam with the high received signal power may have a high BLER. In an example, having the high BLER may result in the periodic out-of-synch indications. In an example, when the higher layer receives an aperiodic indication of a successful completion of the BFR procedure, the wireless device may not stop the RLF timer (expiry of the RLF timer results in declaring RLF) based on the aperiodic indication not being a reliable indication for the RLF procedure.

In an example, based on the BFR procedure and an RLF procedure using the different metrics and/or the thresholds, completing the BFR procedure unsuccessfully may not (necessarily) mean that the wireless device keeps receiving periodic out-of-synch indications. In an example, when the higher layer receives an aperiodic indication of an unsuccessful completion of the BFR procedure, the wireless device may not immediately declare RLF based on the aperiodic indication not being a reliable indication for the RLF procedure.

There is a need to handle the aperiodic indication of a successful or an unsuccessful completion of the BFR procedure at the higher layer to assist an RLF procedure.

Example embodiments introduce a new timer and/or time period. The wireless device may start the new timer when the RLF timer is started. In an example, when the new timer (or time period) expires, there may not be enough time to receive a second number of consecutive periodic in-synch indications (in the remaining time).

In an example, when the higher layer receives an aperiodic indication of an unsuccessful completion of the BFR procedure after the new timer (or period) expires, the wireless device may immediately declare an RLF. In an example, based on the declaring RLF immediately, the wireless device may not wait until the RLF timer expires. This may lead to reestablishing a connection between the base station and the wireless device earlier.

In an example, when the higher layer receives an aperiodic indication of a successful completion of the BFR procedure after the new timer (or period) expires, the wireless device may restart the RLF timer. In an example, based on the restarting the RLF timer, the wireless device may ensure that the candidate beam selected for the BFR procedure is reliable and/or stable enough. In an example, based on the restarting the RLF timer, the wireless device may give enough time for the wireless device to receive a second number of consecutive periodic in-synch indications. In an example, based on receiving the second number of consecutive periodic in-synch indications, the wireless device may determine that the candidate beam is reliable and/or stable. This may increase the robustness of the communication between the wireless device and the base station. This may reduce the false alarm rate introduced by selecting a candidate beam with a high BLER.

In an example, when the higher layer receives an aperiodic indication of a successful or an unsuccessful completion of the BFR procedure while the new timer (or period) is running, the wireless device may not take an action. In an example, receiving the aperiodic indication while the new timer is running may ensure that there is enough time to receive a second number of consecutive periodic in-synch indications (in the remaining time) to stop the RLF timer. In an example, receiving the second number of consecutive periodic in-synch indications may ensure that a link between the base station and the wireless device is reliable and/or stable. In an example, not taking the action may comprise that the wireless device keeps running the RLF timer. In an example, not taking the action may comprise that the wireless device does not declare an RLF.

FIG. 20A and FIG. 20B show an example of a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure. In FIG. 20A, a base station transmits to a wireless device, one or more messages comprising a first set of RS resource configurations. The first set of RS resource configurations may comprise one or more first RSs (e.g., CSI-RS or SS blocks) (e.g. Second RS 1 and Second RS 2 in FIG. 20A). The one or more messages may further comprise a second set of RS resource configurations comprising one or more second RSs (e.g., CSI-RS or SS blocks) (e.g. First RS 1 and First RS 2 in FIG. 20A). The wireless device may measure radio link quality of one or more beams associated with the one or more first RSs and/or the one or more second RSs. The one or more messages may further comprise one or more BFRQ resources (e.g. BFRQ resource in FIG. 20B). In an example, the one or more messages may further comprise an association between each of the one or more second RSs and each of the one or more BFRQ resources (e.g. association between First RS 1 and BFRQ resource in FIG. 20B).

In FIG. 20A, a wireless device may assess a first radio link quality (e.g. hypothetical BLER, L1-RSRP) of the one or more first RSs against a first threshold. In an example, the first threshold (e.g. BLER, L1-RSRP) may be a first value provided by a higher layer (e.g. RRC, MAC). The wireless device may monitor at least one PDCCH. At least one RS (e.g., DM-RS) of the at least one PDCCH may be associated (e.g., QCLed) with the one or more first RSs.

A base station may transmit one or more messages comprising configuration parameters of a BFR procedure (e.g. RRC configuration for BFR procedure in FIG. 20A). In FIG. 20A, a wireless device may detect a beam failure when the first radio link quality of the one or more first RSs meets certain criteria. For example, a beam failure may occur when RSRP/SINR of the one or more first RSs is lower than the first threshold and/or BLER is higher than the first threshold. The assessment may be for a consecutive number of times with a value provided by a higher layer (e.g. RRC, MAC).

In response to detecting the beam failure, the wireless device may start a beam failure timer. In response to starting the beam failure timer, the wireless device may initiate a candidate beam identification procedure. For the candidate beam identification procedure, the wireless device may identify a first RS (First RS 1 in FIG. 20A) among the one of the one or more second RSs. The first RS may be associated with a BFRQ resource (BFRQ resource in FIG. 20B) of the one or more BFRQ resources. The BFRQ resource may comprise at least one preamble and at least one PRACH (e.g. time and/or frequency) resource. In an example, a second radio link quality (e.g. BLER, L1-RSRP) of the first RS may be better (e.g. lower BLER or higher L1-RSRP or higher SINR) than a second threshold. In the example, the second threshold may be a second value provided by the higher layer (e.g. RRC, MAC).

In FIG. 20B, in response to detecting the beam failure and identifying the first RS, the wireless device may transmit, in a first slot, the at least one preamble via the at least one PRACH resource (e.g. BFRQ resource) for a beam failure recovery request (BFRQ). In response to transmitting the at least one preamble in the first slot, the wireless device may start, from a second slot, monitoring at least one PDCCH in one or more coresets (Coreset in FIG. 20B) for a DCI within a response window. The DCI may be with CRC scrambled by a C-RNTI.

In an example embodiment, a first accuracy of channel estimation via an RS (e.g. DM-RS) may be lower than a second accuracy of channel estimation via a third RS (e.g. CSI-RS). When the third RS is configured QCLed with the RS, a wireless device may improve the first accuracy of channel estimation via the RS (e.g. DM-RS) based on information about radio channel characteristics acquired by channel estimation via the third RS (e.g. CSI-RS).

In FIG. 20B, a wireless device may monitor the at least one PDCCH in the one or more coresets (Coreset in FIG. 20B) according to an antenna port associated (e.g., QCLed) with the first RS (First RS 1 in FIG. 20B). A base station may transmit an indication of QCL between antenna port(s) of the first RS and at least one DM-RS (DM-RS in FIG. 20B) of the at least one PDCCH.

In an example, in response to receiving a downlink assignment or an uplink grant (e.g. BFRQ response in FIG. 20B), on the at least one PDCCH, within the response window, a wireless device may stop the beam failure timer and consider the BFR procedure is successfully completed. The downlink assignment or the uplink grant may be addressed to a C-RNTI. In response to a successful completion of the BFR procedure, a lower layer (e.g. physical layer) the wireless device may indicate a success of the BFR procedure to a higher layer (e.g. RRC) of the wireless device.

In an example, when the beam failure timers and the BFR procedure is not successful, a lower layer (e.g. physical layer) of the wireless device may indicate a failure of the BFR procedure to a higher layer (e.g. RRC). In an example, when a maximum number of preamble transmissions for the BFR procedure is reached and the BFR procedure is not successful, the wireless device may indicate a failure of the BFR procedure to the higher layer. The maximum number of preamble transmission may be configured by the higher layer.

FIG. 21 shows an example embodiment. An RLF handling procedure and a BFR procedure may comprise performing downlink signal measurements by a physical layer of a wireless device. In an example, the wireless device may monitor quality of DL based on one or more reference signals (RSs) (e.g. CRS, CSI-RS, SS blocks). The wireless device may compare the quality (e.g. BLER) of the DL against a first threshold (e.g. Q_(OUT)) and a second threshold (e.g. Q_(IN)). In response to the comparing the quality of the DL, the physical layer of the wireless device may report a periodic out-of-sync (OOS) or a periodic in-sync (IS) indication to an RRC layer of the wireless device. In an example, the physical layer of the wireless device may report the periodic OOS indication when the quality of DL (e.g. BLER) is worse than the first threshold (e.g. Q_(OUT) being 10%). In an example, the physical layer of the wireless device may report the periodic IS indication when the quality of DL (e.g. BLER) is better than the second threshold (e.g. Q_(IN) being 2%). When a first number of consecutive periodic OOS indications is equal to a first counter (e.g. N₃₁₀), the RRC layer may start a first timer and a second timer (e.g. T₃₁₀). The first counter and/or the first timer and/or the second timer may be configured by the RRC layer.

When a BFR procedure is unsuccessfully completed, a lower layer (e.g., MAC layer or physical layer) of a wireless device may indicate a first aperiodic indication to a higher layer (e.g., RRC layer) of the wireless device. The first aperiodic indication may be based on a failure of the BFR procedure. In response to receiving the first aperiodic indication, if the first timer is running, the higher layer of the wireless device may not take an action. The higher layer may keep running the second timer. The higher layer may wait to receive a second number of consecutive IS indications (e.g. N₃₁₁). In an example, a wireless device may perform the BFR procedure due to a fading dip (e.g. deep fading) and/or being blocked by obstacle (e.g., moving cars). Quality of DL channels may improve during the BFR procedure. In an example, one or more RSs of beam pair link(s) between the wireless device and a base station may recover (e.g. from the fading dip or obstacle). When the higher layer receives the second number of consecutive IS indications (e.g. N₃₁₁) before the expiry of the second timer, the higher layer may stop the second timer. The higher layer may not detect an RLF. In an example, when the higher does not receive a second number of consecutive IS indications (e.g. N₃₁₁) before the expiry of the second timer, the higher layer may detect an RLF.

In an example, in response to receiving the first aperiodic indication, if the first timer is expired and the second timer is running, the higher layer of the wireless device may stop the second timer and detect an RLF. The higher layer may not have enough time to receive a second number of consecutive IS indications (e.g. N₃₁₁) before the second timer expires (and after the first timer is expired). The detecting RLF before the expiry of the second timer may limit UL interference and/or may expedite the BFR procedure.

In an example, a wireless device may receive from a base station at least a first message. The at least first message may comprise at least one configuration parameter indicating a first value of a first timer, a second value of a second timer, a first number of out-of-synchronization indications, and at least one second configuration parameter of a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure. The wireless device may determine an out-of-synchronization indication. The wireless device may start the first timer and the second timer in response to a number of out-of-synchronization indications being equal to the first number of out-of-synchronization indications. An expiry of the second timer may indicate a radio link failure (RLF). The wireless device may indicate a radio link failure in response to determining at least one failure of the BFR procedure during a time when the first timer expires and the second timer is running.

The wireless device may continue running the second timer and not causing the radio link failure in response to determining the at least one failure of beam failure recovery procedure during a time when the first timer is running and the second timer is running.

In an example, the indicating the one or more failures of beam failure recovery procedure is an indication of a physical layer to a MAC or an RRC layer. In an example, the indicating one or more failures of beam failure recovery procedure is an indication of a MAC layer to an RRC layer.

FIG. 22 shows an example embodiment. When a first number of consecutive periodic OOS indications is equal to a first counter (e.g. N₃₁₀), a higher layer (e.g. RRC) of a wireless device may start a first timer and a second timer (e.g. T₃₁₀). The first counter and/or the first timer and/or the second timer may be configured by the higher layer. When a BFR procedure is successfully completed, a lower layer (e.g. physical layer) of the wireless device may send a second aperiodic indication to the higher layer of the wireless device. The second aperiodic indication may be based on a success of the BFR procedure

When a BFR procedure is successfully completed while the second timer is running, a lower layer may generate periodic IS indications. Receiving a second number of consecutive IS indications (e.g. N₃₁₁) from a lower layer until an expiry of a second timer (e.g. T₃₁₀) may ensure that one or more links between a wireless device and a base station are stable. In an example, in response to receiving the second aperiodic indication and the second number of consecutive IS indications, the higher layer of the wireless device may stop the second timer.

In an example, a second aperiodic indication may be received at a time close to an expiry of the second timer. In this case, a higher layer may not receive a second number of consecutive IS indications (e.g. N₃₁₁) from a lower layer before the expiry of the second timer. The higher layer may detect an RLF even though the BFR procedure is successfully completed.

In an example embodiment, in response to receiving the second aperiodic indication, if the first timer is running, the higher layer of the wireless device may not take an action. The second timer may keep running. The higher layer may wait to receive a second number of consecutive IS indications (e.g. N₃₁₁). The wireless device may ensure that one or more beam pair links between the wireless device and a base station are stable.

In an example embodiment, in response to receiving the second aperiodic indication, when the first timer expires and the second timer is running, the higher layer of the wireless device may reset (or restart) the second timer based on the second aperiodic indication. Resetting (or restarting) the second timer may allow the higher layer a duration of time to receive the second number of consecutive IS indications (e.g. N₃₁₁) from the lower layers. The wireless device may ensure that one or more beam pair links between the wireless device and a base station are stable.

In an example, a wireless device may receive from a base station at least a first message. The at least first message may comprise at least one configuration parameter indication a first value of a first timer, a second value of a second timer, a first number of out-of-synchronization indications, and at least one second configuration parameter of a beam failure recovery (BFR) procedure. The wireless device may determine an out-of-synchronization indication. The wireless device may start the first timer and the second timer in response to a number of out-of-synchronization indications being equal to the first number of out-of-synchronization indications. An expiry of the second timer may indicate a radio link failure (RLF). The wireless device may restart the second timer in response to determining at least one success of the BFR procedure during a time when the first timer is expired and the second timer is running

The wireless device may continue running the second timer in response to determining the at least one success of beam failure recovery procedure during a time when the first timer is running and the second timer is running.

In an example, indicating the one or more success of beam failure recovery procedure is an indication of a physical layer to a MAC or an RRC layer. In an example, indicating one or more success of beam failure recovery procedure is an indication of a MAC layer to an RRC layer.

Embodiments may be configured to operate as needed. The disclosed mechanism may be performed when certain criteria are met, for example, in a wireless device, a base station, a radio environment, a network, a combination of the above, and/or the like. Example criteria may be based, at least in part, on for example, wireless device or network node configurations, traffic load, initial system set up, packet sizes, traffic characteristics, a combination of the above, and/or the like. When the one or more criteria are met, various example embodiments may be applied. Therefore, it may be possible to implement example embodiments that selectively implement disclosed protocols.

A base station may communicate with a mix of wireless devices. Wireless devices and/or base stations may support multiple technologies, and/or multiple releases of the same technology. Wireless devices may have some specific capability(ies) depending on wireless device category and/or capability(ies). A base station may comprise multiple sectors. When this disclosure refers to a base station communicating with a plurality of wireless devices, this disclosure may refer to a subset of the total wireless devices in a coverage area. This disclosure may refer to, for example, a plurality of wireless devices of a given LTE or 5G release with a given capability and in a given sector of the base station. The plurality of wireless devices in this disclosure may refer to a selected plurality of wireless devices, and/or a subset of total wireless devices in a coverage area which perform according to disclosed methods, and/or the like. There may be a plurality of base stations or a plurality of wireless devices in a coverage area that may not comply with the disclosed methods, for example, because those wireless devices or base stations perform based on older releases of LTE or 5G technology.

According to various embodiments, a device such as, for example, a wireless device, off-network wireless device, a base station, and/or the like, may comprise one or more processors and memory. The memory may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to perform a series of actions. Embodiments of example actions are illustrated in the accompanying figures and specification. Features from various embodiments may be combined to create yet further embodiments.

FIG. 23 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. At 2310, a wireless device may receive one or more messages. The one or messages may comprise one or more configuration parameters. The one or more configuration parameters may indicate a value of a timer. The timer may be for controlling a radio link failure indication based on a beam failure recovery procedure. The one or more configuration parameters may indicate a first number of out-of-synchronization indications. At 2320, the wireless device may determine a second number of out-of-synchronization indications. At 2335, the timer associated with the value may be started in response to the second number being equal to the first number of out-of-synchronization indications (2330). At 2340, a first failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may be determined. At 2355, the first failure may be ignored by not causing a radio link failure in response to the timer running when the first failure is determined (2350). At 2360, a second failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may be determined. At 2375, a radio link failure may be indicated in response to the timer being expired when the second failure is determined (2370).

According to an example embodiment, the determining of the first failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise a preamble counter being equal to a maximum number of preamble transmissions. According to an example embodiment, the determining of the first failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise an expiry of a beam failure recovery timer. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate the beam failure recovery timer.

According to an example embodiment, the determining of the second failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise a preamble counter being equal to a maximum number of preamble transmissions. According to an example embodiment, the determining of the second failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise an expiry of a beam failure recovery timer. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may further indicate the beam failure recovery timer. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may further indicate a maximum number of preamble transmissions for the beam failure recovery procedure.

According to an example embodiment, the beam failure recovery procedure may be initiated based on detecting a beam failure. According to an example embodiment, a beam failure recovery timer may be started in response to the initiation of the beam failure recovery procedure. According to an example embodiment, the detecting of the beam failure may comprise assessing that one or more first reference signals have a radio quality lower than a first threshold. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may further indicate the one or more first reference signals. According to an example embodiment, the first threshold may be based on a hypothetical block error rate. According to an example embodiment, the initiating of the beam failure recovery procedure may further comprise transmitting at least one preamble via at least one random access channel resource in response to selecting a selected reference signal. According to an example embodiment, a preamble counter may be incremented in response to the transmitting the at least one preamble. According to an example embodiment, the selected reference signal may have a radio quality higher than a second threshold.

According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate one or more second reference signals. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate one or more beam failure recovery request resources. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate an association between each of the one or more second reference signals to a different one of the one or more beam failure recovery request resources. According to an example embodiment, the beam failure recovery procedure may comprises selecting a selected reference signal of the one or more second reference signals associated with a beam failure recovery request resource of the one or more beam failure recovery request resources. According to an example embodiment, the beam failure recovery request resource may comprise at least one preamble and at least one random access channel resource.

FIG. 24 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. At 2410, a wireless device may receive one or more messages. The one or more messages may comprise one or more configuration parameters. The one or more configuration parameters may indicate a value of a timer for controlling a second timer based on a beam failure recovery procedure. The one or more configuration parameters may indicate a second value of the second timer. The second timer may be for controlling a radio link failure indication. An expiry of the second timer may indicate a radio link failure, and a first number of out-of-synchronization indications. At 2420, the wireless device may determine a second number of out-of-synchronization indications. At 2435, the timer associated with the value and the second timer associated with the second value may be started in response to the second number being equal to the first number of out-of-synchronization indications (2430). At 2440, a first success of the beam failure recovery procedure may be determined. At 2455, the first success may be ignored by not stopping the second timer in response to the timer running when the first success is determined (2450). At 2460, a second success of the beam failure recovery procedure may be determined. At 2475, the second timer associated with the second value may be restarting in response to the timer being expired when the second success is determined (2470).

According to an example embodiment, the determining the first success of the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise receiving a downlink control information in a control resource set. According to an example embodiment, the downlink control information may be addressed to a cell radio network temporary identifier of the wireless device. According to an example embodiment, the downlink control information may comprise a downlink assignment. According to an example embodiment, the downlink control information may comprise an uplink grant. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate the control resource set.

According to an example embodiment, the determining of the second success of the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise receiving a downlink control information in a control resource set. According to an example embodiment, the downlink control information may be addressed to a cell radio network temporary identifier of the wireless device. According to an example embodiment, the downlink control information may comprise a downlink assignment. According to an example embodiment, the downlink control information may comprise an uplink grant. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate the control resource set.

According to an example embodiment, the beam failure recovery procedure may be initiated based on detecting a beam failure. According to an example embodiment, the detecting the beam failure may comprise assessing that one or more first reference signals have a radio quality lower than a first threshold. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate the one or more first reference signals. According to an example embodiment, the first threshold may be based on a hypothetical block error rate. According to an example embodiment, the initiating the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise transmitting at least one preamble via at least one random access channel resource in response to selecting a selected reference signal. According to an example embodiment, a downlink control channel in a control resource set may be monitored for a downlink control information in response to the transmitting the at least one preamble. According to an example embodiment, the selected reference signal may have a radio quality higher than a second threshold. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate one or more second reference signals. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate one or more beam failure recovery request resources. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate an association between each of the one or more second reference signals to a different one of the one or more beam failure recovery request resources. According to an example embodiment, the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise selecting a selected RS of the one or more second reference signals associated with a beam failure recovery request resource of the one or more beam failure recovery request resources. According to an example embodiment, the beam failure recovery request resource may comprise at least one preamble and at least one random access channel resource.

FIG. 25 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present disclosure. At 2510, a wireless device may receive one or more messages. The one or more messages may comprise one or more configuration parameters. The one or more configuration parameters may indicate a value of a period of time. The one or more configuration parameters may indicate a first number of out-of-synchronization indications. At 2520, the wireless device may determine a second number of out-of-synchronization indications. At 2535, a first failure of a beam failure recovery procedure may be ignored during a period of time starting based on when the second number of out-of-synchronization indications are equal to the first number of out-of-synchronization indications (2530). At 2540, a second failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may be determined after the period of time expires. At 2550, in response to the second failure (2550), a radio link failure indication may be transmitted to a base station.

According to an example embodiment, the determining of the first failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise a preamble counter being equal to a maximum number of preamble transmissions. According to an example embodiment, the determining of the first failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise an expiry of a beam failure recovery timer. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate the beam failure recovery timer.

According to an example embodiment, the determining of the second failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise a preamble counter being equal to a maximum number of preamble transmissions. According to an example embodiment, the determining of the second failure of the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise an expiry of a beam failure recovery timer.

According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate the beam failure recovery timer. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate a maximum number of preamble transmissions for the beam failure recovery procedure.

According to an example embodiment, the beam failure recovery procedure may be initiated based on detecting a beam failure. According to an example embodiment, a beam failure recovery timer may be started in response to the initiating the beam failure recovery procedure. According to an example embodiment, the detecting the beam failure may comprise assessing that one or more first reference signals have a radio quality lower than a first threshold. According to an example embodiment, the first threshold may be based on a hypothetical block error rate. According to an example embodiment, initiating the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise transmitting at least one preamble via at least one random access channel resource in response to selecting a selected reference signal. According to an example embodiment, a preamble counter may be incremented in response to the transmitting the at least one preamble. According to an example embodiment, the selected reference signal may have a radio quality higher than a second threshold. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate one or more first reference signals.

According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate one or more second reference signals. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate one or more beam failure recovery request resources. According to an example embodiment, the one or more configuration parameters may indicate an association between each of the one or more second reference signals to a different one of the one or more beam failure recovery request resources. According to an example embodiment, the beam failure recovery procedure may comprise selecting a selected RS of the one or more second reference signals associated with a beam failure recovery request resource of the one or more beam failure recovery request resources. According to an example embodiment, the beam failure recovery request resource may comprise at least one preamble and at least one random access channel resource. According to an example embodiment, a timer associated with the value may be started in response to the second number being equal to the first number of out-of-synchronization indications.

In this disclosure, “a” and “an” and similar phrases are to be interpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” Similarly, any term that ends with the suffix “(s)” is to be interpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” In this disclosure, the term “may” is to be interpreted as “may, for example.” In other words, the term “may” is indicative that the phrase following the term “may” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.

If A and B are sets and every element of A is also an element of B, A is called a subset of B. In this specification, only non-empty sets and subsets are considered. For example, possible subsets of B={cell1, cell2} are: {cell1}, {cell2}, and {cell1, cell2}. The phrase “based on” (or equally “based at least on”) is indicative that the phrase following the term “based on” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments. The phrase “in response to” (or equally “in response at least to”) is indicative that the phrase following the phrase “in response to” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments. The phrase “depending on” (or equally “depending at least to”) is indicative that the phrase following the phrase “depending on” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments. The phrase “employing/using” (or equally “employing/using at least”) is indicative that the phrase following the phrase “employing/using” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities that may, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.

The term configured may relate to the capacity of a device whether the device is in an operational or non-operational state. Configured may also refer to specific settings in a device that effect the operational characteristics of the device whether the device is in an operational or non-operational state. In other words, the hardware, software, firmware, registers, memory values, and/or the like may be “configured” within a device, whether the device is in an operational or nonoperational state, to provide the device with specific characteristics. Terms such as “a control message to cause in a device” may mean that a control message has parameters that may be used to configure specific characteristics or may be used to implement certain actions in the device, whether the device is in an operational or non-operational state

In this disclosure, various embodiments are disclosed. Limitations, features, and/or elements from the disclosed example embodiments may be combined to create further embodiments within the scope of the disclosure.

In this disclosure, parameters (or equally called, fields, or Information elements: IEs) may comprise one or more information objects, and an information object may comprise one or more other objects. For example, if parameter (IE) N comprises parameter (IE) M, and parameter (IE) M comprises parameter (IE) K, and parameter (IE) K comprises parameter (information element) J. Then, for example, N comprises K, and N comprises J. In an example embodiment, when one or more messages comprise a plurality of parameters, it implies that a parameter in the plurality of parameters is in at least one of the one or more messages, but does not have to be in each of the one or more messages.

Furthermore, many features presented above are described as being optional through the use of “may” or the use of parentheses. For the sake of brevity and legibility, the present disclosure does not explicitly recite each and every permutation that may be obtained by choosing from the set of optional features. However, the present disclosure is to be interpreted as explicitly disclosing all such permutations. For example, a system described as having three optional features may be embodied in seven different ways, namely with just one of the three possible features, with any two of the three possible features or with all three of the three possible features.

Many of the elements described in the disclosed embodiments may be implemented as modules. A module is defined here as an element that performs a defined function and has a defined interface to other elements. The modules described in this disclosure may be implemented in hardware, software in combination with hardware, firmware, wetware (i.e. hardware with a biological element) or a combination thereof, all of which may be behaviorally equivalent. For example, modules may be implemented as a software routine written in a computer language configured to be executed by a hardware machine (such as C, C++, Fortran, Java, Basic, Matlab or the like) or a modeling/simulation program such as Simulink, Stateflow, GNU Octave, or LabVIEWMathScript. Additionally, it may be possible to implement modules using physical hardware that incorporates discrete or programmable analog, digital and/or quantum hardware. Examples of programmable hardware comprise: computers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs); and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs). Computers, microcontrollers and microprocessors are programmed using languages such as assembly, C, C++ or the like. FPGAs, ASICs and CPLDs are often programmed using hardware description languages (HDL) such as VHSIC hardware description language (VHDL) or Verilog that configure connections between internal hardware modules with lesser functionality on a programmable device. The above mentioned technologies are often used in combination to achieve the result of a functional module.

The disclosure of this patent document incorporates material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, for the limited purposes required by law, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example, and not limitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made therein without departing from the scope. In fact, after reading the above description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevant art(s) how to implement alternative embodiments. Thus, the present embodiments should not be limited by any of the above described exemplary embodiments.

In addition, it should be understood that any figures which highlight the functionality and advantages, are presented for example purposes only. The disclosed architecture is sufficiently flexible and configurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than that shown. For example, the actions listed in any flowchart may be re-ordered or only optionally used in some embodiments.

Further, the purpose of the Abstract of the Disclosure is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The Abstract of the Disclosure is not intended to be limiting as to the scope in any way.

Finally, it is the applicant's intent that only claims that include the express language “means for” or “step for” be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112. Claims that do not expressly include the phrase “means for” or “step for” are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device, one or more messages comprising one or more configuration parameters indicating: a value of a timer for controlling a radio link failure indication based on a beam failure recovery procedure; and a first number of out-of-synchronization indications; determining, by the wireless device, a second number of out-of-synchronization indications; starting the timer associated with the value in response to the second number being equal to the first number of out-of-synchronization indications; determining a first failure of the beam failure recovery procedure; ignoring the first failure by not causing a radio link failure in response to the timer running when the first failure is determined; determining a second failure of the beam failure recovery procedure; and indicating a radio link failure in response to the timer being expired when the second failure is determined.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first failure of the beam failure recovery procedure comprises a preamble counter being equal to a maximum number of preamble transmissions.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first failure of the beam failure recovery procedure comprises an expiry of a beam failure recovery timer.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more configuration parameters further indicate the beam failure recovery timer.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the second failure of the beam failure recovery procedure comprises a preamble counter being equal to a maximum number of preamble transmissions.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the second failure of the beam failure recovery procedure comprises an expiry of a beam failure recovery timer.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more configuration parameters further indicate the beam failure recovery timer.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more configuration parameters further indicate a maximum number of preamble transmissions for the beam failure recovery procedure.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating the beam failure recovery procedure based on detecting a beam failure.
 10. The method of claim 9, further comprising starting a beam failure recovery timer in response to the initiating the beam failure recovery procedure.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the detecting the beam failure comprises assessing that one or more first reference signals have a radio quality lower than a first threshold.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more configuration parameters further indicate the one or more first reference signals.
 13. The method of claim 11, wherein the first threshold is based on a hypothetical block error rate.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the initiating the beam failure recovery procedure further comprising transmitting at least one preamble via at least one random access channel resource in response to selecting a selected reference signal.
 15. The method of claim 14, further comprising incrementing a preamble counter in response to the transmitting the at least one preamble.
 16. The method of claim 14, wherein the selected reference signal has a radio quality higher than a second threshold.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more configuration parameters further indicate: one or more second reference signals; and one or more beam failure recovery request resources.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more configuration parameters further indicate an association between each of the one or more second reference signals to a different one of the one or more beam failure recovery request resources.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the beam failure recovery procedure further comprises selecting a selected RS of the one or more second reference signals associated with a beam failure recovery request resource of the one or more beam failure recovery request resources.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the beam failure recovery request resource comprises at least one preamble and at least one random access channel resource. 